The Night The Dreams Died
by Island Breezes
Summary: Graduation didn't go as planned. Liz awakens from a coma to learn that she alone survived... until clues suggest that the graves of the others might actually be empty. Story Complete
1. Default Chapter

**       The Night The Dreams Died - PG-13**

**This story begins with graduation, and it can be assumed that everything in the show up until graduation happened in this story the same as in the show, with these important exceptions: Tess and Nasedo never showed up in Roswell, and the group is unaware of their existence, though this will change. Consequently, there was no Max/Tess relationship, no baby, and Alex is still alive. (Agent Pierce's testimony to Congress that got the Special Unit disbanded was a matter of public record and was shown on TV, so Jim and the others know about it. We know from the show that Agent Pierce was actually Nasedo, and the real Pierce was dead already, but the group doesn't know this yet in this story.) In this story, Nasedo disappeared shortly after this testimony without ever moving to Roswell with Tess. That is the only difference in this story prior to graduation. Beginning with graduation, this story takes a different turn, and in the beginning, at least, everything will be turned upside down for our heroes.**

**The Night The Dreams Died is loosely based on… and is inter-related with… the "Altered Time" series, but it can be read by itself, because instead of being a sequel to book four (The Four Faces of Rath), it unfolds alongside it, almost like an alternate universe. This will only become clear later in the story, and hopefully the relationship to the series will make complete sense then.**

**The creators of Roswell, especially Melinda Metz and Jason Katim, deserve the credit for the Roswell concept and pre-existing characters and any mention of events that occurred during the TV series. Anything else, for better or worse, is my own vision.**

**                              Gerry **

**                        ********************


	2. Dreams01

**The Night The Dreams Died**

**Awake**

**Chapter 1**

**I******

**L****iz opened her eyes and looked around. It might have been like any other morning, but it wasn't. She wasn't sure how she knew this. Maybe it was just a feeling. Maybe it was because her memories were so foggy. Maybe it was because her room didn't look like her room. She looked at the walls. They were white. The strange thing is, she couldn't remember what color they were supposed to be. But something in her was sure that it wasn't white. It had an unfamiliar feel to it.**

**Liz turned her head to the other side. Ouch! She must have been sleeping very badly. Her neck hurt when she tried to turn it. She tried again, this time forcing herself to move the sore muscles. That's when her eyes met the other woman's. It was hard to say which one was more surprised.**

**"Who are you," Liz started to say, but her mouth felt like cotton, and her tongue refused to move. Something mumbled did come out though, and the other woman ran from the room calling for "Mister Parker."**

**Within seconds, Jeff Parker was in the room… with Nancy close behind him. Then the other woman came back in.**

**"She's awake, Mister Parker! Your daughter is awake! She spoke!"**

**"Liz?" Jeff looked into Liz's eyes, and Nancy held Liz's hand in hers and wiped a tear from her own eye.**

**"Liz, can you hear me?"**

**"Yeah, Dad, sure I hear you." Okay, that didn't exactly sound like it was meant to. Liz moved her tongue around slowly in her mouth. It felt like she had been given Novocain and her tongue was still numb. What came out sounded more like, "Yay-duh… Shy ear you." There was nothing wrong with her ears. Something must have made her tongue swell.**

**"It's alright, Lizzie. You don't have to talk. Just relax," Jeff said. "Can you nod your head?"**

**"Yeh Da'." This wasn't going to be easy. "Da'… con I 've s'wabber."**

**"Get her some water," Jeff said to the other woman. "Just a little in a cup."**

**The woman nodded and hurried off to find some water. Well, at least her Dad had understood her. Whatever was happening, she could talk. Not very well… but maybe that would change when she got some water to moisten her tongue with. She hoped so anyway.**

**The woman returned moments later with the water, and Jeff held it for Liz as she sipped it. Her throat felt parched, and it was hard to swallow. She gagged on the first swallow.**

**"It's alright, Lizzie," Jeff said. "Go a little slower. Here. Try it again."**

**Liz took another sip. This time it went down. It felt good… so cool in her throat… on her tongue, too. Her tongue moved more freely now and felt a bit less heavy. But her throat still ached.**

**"Daddy?"**

**"Yeah, Lizzie! I'm here!"**

**"Whe'm… where am I?"**

**"You're at home, Lizzie. You're in your room."**

**"No… S'nah my room."**

**"It's changed," Nancy reminded Jeff softly. Jeff nodded.**

**"We had your room painted and redone for you before you came home, Lizzie. We wanted it to be…" Jeff's voice trailed off. "If you don't like it, we can put it back like it was."**

**Liz didn't answer. She was having trouble remembering how it had been… how it was supposed to look. She just knew that this wasn't it. This was all too… clinical.**

**"Da… Daddy?"**

**"Yes, Lizzie?"**

**"Wha's wron' w'me? Why can' I talk?"**

**Jeff looked at Liz for a moment. He seemed to have no immediate answer to give her.**

**"Damn," Jeff said silently to himself. He had had four months… four months and ten days, to be exact… to think of what he should say when she woke up… if she woke up. Why hadn't he planned for something as simple as this before now? **

**Jeff shook his head slowly. "Don't think about that now, Lizzie. We're here for you. That's what's important. Everything's going to be alright."**

**Liz rolled her head back and stared at the ceiling. Even the ceiling looked different.**

**"Dad… I hab to know. I ca't move my arms." Liz made another effort, exploring any possibility of getting out of the bed.**

**"Did I hab… an acciden'?**

**Jeff nodded slightly then shook his head. "No, Lizzie. It wasn't your fault. Nothing you did."**

**"I ca't move my legs."**

**Jeff closed his eyes momentarily and his lips started to quiver. He quickly pursed his lips together in an effort to mask his emotions, but Liz noticed.**

**"I… I can't move, Dad… can I…"**

**Jeff tried to smile at Liz through the tears forming in his eyes.**

**"You've been asleep, Liz. We weren't sure what you would be able to do. We still aren't. But the doctors said…" Jeff swallowed and his voice trailed off again.**

**It wasn't necessary for him to continue. Liz understood.**

**"Can I 've s'more wat'r?"**

**"Sure." Jeff held the cup for Liz, and she took a couple more swallows. Her throat was starting to feel almost human again. But it still ached dully. And her stomach ached slightly, as though it were unaccustomed to having anything in it.**

**"What happened to me, Dad? I need to know. Please. Am I… going to be able to move my legs or arms again?"**

**Jeff looked at Liz, and she could see the intense caring –and the pain- in his eyes. She saw it in her mother's, too. This was obviously very hard on them. For a moment, Liz forgot about herself.**

**"It's alright, Dad. If it's too painful, you don't have to tell me right now."**

**That seemed to be the last chink in the wall holding the waters back. Jeff broke down and began to cry. After he managed to find his voice again, he looked at Liz and held her and Nancy's hands together in his. Then, steeling himself, he looked directly into Liz's eyes with a deep earnestness.**

**"You were shot, Lizzie… at your graduation."**

**Thoughts began to flood back into Liz's mind, and she gasped, as the memories began to return.**

**"Graduation… I was at the graduation… with… with… you and mom… and…"**

**"Max! Where's Max?"**

**Jeff didn't answer.**

**"I have to know," Liz said, her voice trembling. "And Isabel…"**

**Jeff licked his lips slightly but shook his head.**

**"Are they…?"**

**"I'll read you the story out of the paper if you want," Jeff said softly. I still have it."**

**Jeff reached over and took a folded newspaper from a drawer and opened it to the front page.**

**"The headline… this was the day after your graduation… The headline says, "Military commandoes shoot up high school graduation ceremony in Roswell. Five killed. Scores more injured." **

**Jeff looked up at Liz to gauge her reaction and see if he should continue. Then he looked down at the paper in his hand again…**

**"West Roswell High School seniors, with thoughts of their future running through their heads, were marching onto the stage to receive their diplomas yesterday, when suddenly their world came crashing down around them in a hail of high-powered gun fire. The bizarre incident, which was blamed on a crazed group of ex-military commandoes who had been on a drinking binge earlier in the night, left four students and the principal of West Roswell High dead and injured scores more. Many of the injured were hurt accidentally in the panic to escape, as others around them fell mortally wounded…"**

**"Max?" Liz whispered.**

**Jeff swallowed silently.**

**"Isabel?"**

**Jeff swallowed again but did not reply.**

**"Michael? Michael wasn't there… was he?"**

**Jeff looked at the paper again and continued to read…**

**"The evening took an unusual turn early on, when the lights in the room suddenly went out, leaving all the guests in the dark. Guest speaker, Bryce McCain, a three-time Hugo award winning science fiction novelist, had been getting ready to speak when one of the graduating seniors, Maxwell Evans, came to the microphone in an apparent effort to reassure and calm the uneasy guests and students. Some students reported seeing a red dot appear and disappear on Evans' head and chest and on the heads and chests of some other students in the room as Evans spoke. At some point in Evans' impromptu speech, gunfire broke out and a motorbike burst through the doors and up onto the stage, pulling up next to Evans, who jumped on the back with the driver, identified as Michael Guerin, also a student at West Roswell High. The bike spun around and sped back down the stairs and out through the doors it had come in, but Guerin and Evans were apparently struck by several high-powered rifle shots fired from inside the ventilation ducts as they exited. Guerin was able to drive his bike a couple of miles before losing consciousness. The bodies of both Guerin and Evans were found two hours later at the edge of town, where the bike had crashed. **

**In addition to Max Evans and Michael Guerin, the shooting took the life of the school's principal, Dr. Martin Van Der Shul, and of graduating seniors, Isabel Evans, who by coincidence, was the sister of Max Evans, and Maria DeLuca…"  
  
**

**Liz gasped, and tears came to her eyes. "Maria? Why Maria? She wasn't…"**

**"She wasn't what, Lizzie?"**

**"One of them."**

**Jeff nodded. "I'm sorry, Liz."**

**Jeff was silent for a few moments. "Are you sure you want to hear more of this?"**

**Liz nodded.**

**Jeff looked at the paper again. **

**"The incident left scores of students and family members injured, most of them as a result of the panic that ensued during the gunfire. However, three students were grazed by gunfire apparently intended for the seniors who died in the siege, and one student, Elizabeth Parker, was shot in the head and back. Miss Parker remains in extremely critical condition this morning at Roswell General Hospital, where she was flown by helicopter after the incident.**

**In the panic and confusion that followed the shootings, the shooters escaped. However, a number of witnesses were able to provide descriptions of the suspects, including a detailed description of the special military uniforms and service patches that the shooters were wearing. Urgent calls from the sheriff and press to the governor and to officials at the local military base resulted in the suspects being apprehended quickly by military police. A spokesperson for General Haggerty, at the army base, told this paper that the men responsible had been on a drinking binge earlier in the night and believed that they were raiding a Viet Cong encampment. The spokesperson said that the army would be handling their trials, which would be closed to the public, and that all those involved would likely receive court-martials."**

**Liz closed her eyes. "Court-martials."**

**"I know," Jeff said. "It doesn't seem like enough for what they did."**

**"It's not that, Dad. It's not enough. But they won't get court-martials. They'll probably get medals."**

**"They shot innocent kids… high school seniors at their graduation, Lizzie! They can't just get away with that."**

**"They already did get away with it, Dad."**

**"Jeff…" Nancy put her hand on Jeff's arm. "You're upsetting her. She just came out of a coma. She isn't going to remember everything, and her thoughts may be a little… jumbled at first. Let her rest."**

**Jeff nodded, and his voice quivered. "Sorry, Lizzie. I just… I just love you… so much…" He took a deep breath to calm his voice, "…and I have a hard enough time thinking they only got court-martials for all the suffering they caused. But there are a lot better things we should be talking about right now, honey. I'll get Doctor Jennings to look at you in the morning. Now that you're awake, maybe they can run some new tests that will help you walk again. You're going to, you know!"**

**Liz smiled. She couldn't feel or move her legs or her arms. She couldn't even feel her hands or fingers, and she wasn't sure if she could move them or not. But at this one small moment in time, she had one good feeling… the feeling of being loved. That would have to buy her some time… until the realities… and the losses… set in.**

**tbc**

**Author's note: In the near future, look for the army to try to rectify its single "mistake…" its unfinished business. And the army won't be the only problem facing Liz as she tries to regain some semblance of a life in Roswell. Not everyone is happy with the army's unusual interest in Roswell, and specifically, in Liz Parker. Also, continue to read "The Four Faces of Rath." That story and this one will prove to be inter-related soon, though probably not in a way you would expect. We'll leave it at that. This story will seem to be a radical departure from the "Altered Time" series theme, and in a way, it is. While the other stories run consecutively, in a linear fashion, this one runs separately but is –or will soon prove to be- inter-related.**


	3. Dreams02

The Night The Dreams Died 

**A Walk In The Park**

**Chapter 2**

**II******

**"Y****ou told me this was already handled. That's why I called you in the first place. I like things to be done right… the first time! I expect it!"**

**"It would have been, General. I had no way of knowing that the girl's father would pull her out of West Roswell General and take her home with no advance warning."**

**"Are you sure your man on the inside wasn't compromised?"**

**"I'm sure, General. The father pulled her out when she took a turn for the worse. That's all. Her departure was… unexpected. He hired a private nurse, and he's using his own doctors now."**

**"I'm sure you have some way to get around that. You told me there was no chance of her ever coming out of the coma."**

**"There wouldn't have been, sir, if she had stayed there for just one more day… two at the most. The matter was being… handled."**

**"Well, the situation has changed now. The girl is talking. You know what that can mean. Press problems… and other problems. I do not want to be called before Congress to explain this, Barker! So handle it quickly! And this time, Barker, do it right!"**

**The phone went dead, as the general hung up on Joe Barker, ad hoc leader of the Special Unit. The "Unit" didn't officially exist since Congress disbanded it after Nasedo, masquerading as the deceased Agent Pierce, testified that all their "proof" of alien presence on Earth was bogus. But the General still had contact with its former members, and the team still stood ready to answer any call to "duty." Nasedo had disappeared shortly after that.  **

**Three days had passed since Liz had awakened from the coma she had been in for the last four months, and already she was exploring the limits of her physical capabilities. These weren't very numerous at the present time. She found that she was able to move her fingers and, to some degree, her hands, but her arms felt as though they were simply too heavy to lift, and her legs seemed hopelessly useless. Still, she counted it as a blessing that she could actually feed herself, albeit with some difficulty. She had to have her arm propped up so that she could reach her mouth just by moving her fingers and hand between the bowl and her face. **

**"Dad, did Kyle or Alex either one say where they were going after graduation?"**

**"Not to me, Lizzie. I don't know if they told anyone else or not. I'm sure Alex's parents must know… and I imagine Sheriff Valenti knows where Kyle went. I don't think they're making their whereabouts public knowledge, though. A lot of people around here are still jittery after what happened to the class of 2002."**

**"Yeah… but I'll bet you could find out, Dad. Sheriff Valenti trusts you. So do the Whitmans."**

**Jeff smiled. "I'll see what I can do, Lizzie. I guess having some contact with others from your class… who were there… could be good for you."**

**"Yeah, Dad, it would be."**

**"Dad?"**

**"Yeah, Liz?"**

**"Where are… I mean… where is, you know… where did they bury Max… and Isabel… and Maria?"**

**Jeff's face showed strain as he looked back at Liz.**

**"In the New Haven Cemetery, I think. Liz, you're not in any shape to be…"**

**"I know, Dad. I know. But I wanted to know. Maybe soon…"**

**Jeff nodded and tried to give Liz a smile. "Yeah, maybe soon… when you're a little better… if you want to…" **

**Liz tugged at the IV tube that led to her arm. "This can go, Dad. I don't think I need this anymore."**

**Jeff smiled, this time more genuinely. "I'll see what Doc Jennings says. If he says it's alright, I'll have Vera take it out for you. You just got rid of the feeding tube yesterday, Lizzie. Don't try to hurry things too much. I want you off all this, too, but I want you to have the very best treatment, as well."**

**"Vera takes good care of me, Dad. And you and Mom are the best. I can handle it. I just want all of this gone."**

**Jeff nodded. "I can understand that. I'll ask the doc what he thinks… today."**

**"Thanks, Dad."**

**As Jeff turned to walk out of the room, there was a knock on the door. He looked out the window to see who it was then opened the door.**

**"Sheriff! We were just talking about you!"**

**"Well, I reckon that explains why my ears were ringin."**

**Jeff laughed. "Come on in, Sheriff. I guess you've heard the news."**

**"Yeah, I heard. Liz is awake. That's wonderful news, Jeff. You don't know how glad and thankful I am for you."**

**"Thanks, Sheriff."**

**"Just Jim. We don't need to be formal, Jeff."**

**"Jim." Jeff nodded. "You want to see Liz? We were just talkin' about you… and Kyle."**

**"Yeah, I'd like that."**

**"Follow me."**

**Having overheard the conversation, Liz was prepared when Sheriff Valenti walked into her room.**

**"Hi, Sheriff. Thanks for coming to see me."**

**"Well, now, Liz, you know I couldn't stay away after I heard you were back awake. I been keepin' track of how you were doin'. It's really good to see you lookin' so good."**

**"You don't have to push it, Sheriff. I know I look like a scarecrow."  
  
Jim laughed. "No you don't, Liz. Trust me. You've gotta get outta that bed before you can scare any crows. Right now they'd walk all over you."**

**"You're probably right, Sheriff. I'll work on that."**

**"I know you will. And you'll make it, too."**

**"Thanks, Sheriff."**

**"And you don't look like a scarecrow, Liz. You look like a little girl. A very determined little girl, of course.**

**Liz nodded and smiled. "Sheriff, I was wondering what Kyle is doing now…"**

**"Well, now, you see, that's sort of part of the reason I'm here right now. Kyle wanted me to bring you this." Jim handed Liz a sealed envelope.**

**"A letter?"**

**"You want me to open it for you?"**

**"Would you?"**

**Jim tore open the envelope and handed it back to Liz.**

**"Kyle wanted to come himself… see how you were doing… but…"**

**Liz nodded. "I know, Sheriff. It's better this way… right now."**

**"Yeah."**

**Liz took the letter out of the envelope and unfolded it with her fingers. After a few moments she refolded it and put it back in the envelope then stuck it where she could reach it again under her pillow.**

**"Have you heard any information about Alex, Sheriff?"**

**"Las Cruces. He's plannin' on goin' to college there. The family's not tellin' just everybody where he went, though."**

**"Sheriff?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"You know, those guys that shot… us… Max and me… and Maria and Isabel… did they have a trial?"**

**"You shouldn't be worryin' yourself over such stuff right now, Liz…"**

**Liz gave Jim a determined look, and he sighed.**

**"Truth is, Liz, you've got about as good an idea as I've got about that. The trial… if there was one… was kept closed to the public, so no one but the army knows what went on in there. It was over quick. We know that much. The men who did it disappeared just as quick, and nobody from the army's sayin' where they went. 'Privacy laws,' they keep tellin' the Press when they call. They don't give me any more sway than the Press, either. What I do know, I didn't get from the army. I got it from… other sources."**

**"And what did your other sources tell you. Can you tell me?"**

**"That there never was any trial. That the shooters were from the old Special Unit… the one that was disbanded by Congress after Agent Pierce testified that the Unit was all a sham and humiliated Congresswoman Whittaker."**

**"Yeah, I remember."**

**"Well, my sources tell me they're disbanded, but they're still out there… and ready to take orders."**

**"Whose orders?"**

**"Well now, that's the big question, Liz. And I'm afraid it's one I don't have the answer to right now. But I do know this, the Special Unit is still a danger. Be careful who you talk to… and what you say. That's what I came over here to tell you. Take care of yourself, Liz. You're… family to me."**

**Liz smiled.**

**"Sheriff? Can you take a note back for me… to Kyle?"**

**"Sure can. You want me to write it?"**

**"No, I can do it, Sheriff. I can move my fingers. I haven't mastered writing with the pen between my teeth yet, though."**

**Jim smiled. "I don't think you'll have to, Liz. Looks like you're improving very rapidly. You just woke up three days ago. Now look at you. You're eatin' regular food and everything."**

**"I can feed myself," Liz said.**

**Jim seemed surprised. "Well, there you go! Here. I got a pen right here. And I just happen to have a piece of paper and an envelope, too." Jim smiled.**

**Liz smiled, too, and began to write. Then she folded the paper and put it in the envelope.**

**"Would you seal it for me? You can read it first."**

**"That's not necessary."**

**"It's okay. We're kind of in this together now, aren't we?"**

**Sheriff Valenti nodded.**

**"Well, I better be goin', Liz. I got other business to attend to."**

**"Sheriff?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"You got your job back. I just realized it."**

**Jim smiled. "Yeah. I can't say I like the way I got it back though. Hansen took a lot of blame for what went down at graduation. The town blamed him for not protecting the kids. There was a big outcry, and a lot of folks were demanding the council's heads. The city council quickly ushered me back in. So Hansen's my Deputy now, like it used to be."**

**"Well, however it happened, I'm glad you're the Sheriff again."**

**"Thanks, Liz." Jim turned around to leave, but he stopped at the door and looked back. **

**"Me, too."**

**                                       ************

** (Four days later)**

**"You gonna be okay? Can you sit up that long," Jeff asked with a concerned tone in his voice.**

**"I'm fine, Daddy. Vera will be pushing me. All I have to do is ride. It's the good life."**

**Jeff smiled and shook his head slightly. "Okay, but if you feel tired or anything, ask Vera to bring you straight back. You don't need to be overtaxing yourself."**

**"I'm just going to the park, Daddy. We won't be gone long. And Vera is quite capable of taking care of me."**

**"You want me to come?"**

**"No, they need you in the CrashDown, Daddy. I'll be fine."**

**Vera walked into the room and nodded at Jeff Parker then looked at Liz. "You ready, honey?"**

**Liz smiled. "Yeah. I'm dying to see the trees and the sun again. Let's go!"**

**Somewhere else in Roswell, a telephone rang as they spoke.**

**"Terrier, you ready to go on this?"**

**"Ready, sir! Was the info correct?"**

**"It was. The girl's going to be in the park on the west side of town. They're just leaving her home now. Are you in position?"**

**"I will be. I'm almost there now."**

**"Alright. Make it good, Terrier."**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**The phone went dead.**

**At the park, Vera took Liz's wheelchair out of the car and helped Liz into it.**

**"Still feel like doing this, sweetheart?"**

**"Wild horses couldn't stop me, Vera. I just want to be out here in the fresh air among the beautiful trees and flowers for a while. I want to feel human again. You can understand, can't you?"**

**Vera nodded. Then she took the handles of the wheelchair and walked toward the nature trail. Liz was smiling broadly… and taking in all the scenery.**

**"God, it's so beautiful, Vera! I think I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be outdoors in the real world. Thank you so much for bringing me!"**

**"It's my job, honey. Besides, just between you and me, I like walking in the park." Vera smiled.**

**_"Terrier is in position." _**

****

**_"Copy that, Terrier. Go with plan."_******

**"You think anyone would mind if I pulled one of these little flowers off this bush, Vera?"**

**"I think there'll be plenty left, Liz. Go ahead."**

**Liz carefully plucked a flower from beside the trail with her fingers. As she did, her arm moved slightly.**

**"Did you see that, Vera? My arm moved!"**

**"I saw it." Vera smiled at her.**

**"It was just a little, but I actually moved it, Vera! Maybe I'll be able to walk again some day, too."**

**"I wouldn't doubt it, Liz, knowing you like I do since you woke up. You're certainly determined. But don't get yourself too anxious and then get depressed if it doesn't happen as soon as you think it should… or if it doesn't happen."**

**"It will, Vera. I know it will. I just have to be positive about it."**

**Vera smiled and nodded, but she seemed concerned by Liz's optimism. As they rounded a corner, a man sitting on a bench "reading" a newspaper lifted the paper up in front of his face. **

"Pointer here. Target is sighted. Repeat. Target is sighted. Two targets."

**Another voice replied…**

**_"Operation is still go, Pointer. You got that, Terrier? Wait till target is near. You'll have to take them both, Terrier. Acknowledge."_**

****

**_"Acknowledged. Terrier out."_******

**High up in a tree a couple of hundred feet off the trail, "Terrier" prepared his laser scope and high-powered rifle. Then he placed his eye to the scope and pointed it at the trail where the target would be appearing in a few moments, but as he watched, he became increasingly annoyed by the rising noise level in the park.**

**"Blasted motorcycle! That no-good sheriff should devote some of his time to keeping them out of the park. Sounds like a damn chain saw."**

**As he mumbled to himself, he felt the tree begin to sway… then move slightly… then begin a long fall toward the ground. Terrier grabbed hold of the limbs and did the best he could to hold on, as his perch came tumbling down, bringing him crashing to the ground with it. When he looked up from the ground, there was a shotgun in his face. At the other end of it was Sheriff Jim Valenti. And he wasn't smiling.**

**"Now, we got a choice here. You can crawl on back to that den you call a Unit and tell them that Jim Valenti said this little girl is off limits… or I can blow your head off right here and be a hero to the whole town for catching one of the ones responsible for what happened at graduation a few months back. The longer I think about it, the more I'm liking the second option."**

**Terrier didn't take the time to answer. Dragging an injured leg, he hobbled as fast as he could to the edge of the park, leaving his gun behind under the tree. A black Mercedes pulled up, and he got in as it sped away. A few moments later, Liz and Vera appeared on the trail.**

**"Well, hello," Jim said, tilting his hat slightly. "Fancy meeting you girls here!"**

**"Hi, Sheriff," Liz replied with a smile. She looked at the chainsaw and shotgun in Jim's hand and then at the fallen tree.**

**"Oh! Yeah… well, caught some guys tryin' to do some illegal lumbering in the park. Had to confiscate their saw and bust 'em."**

**"Ah," Liz nodded suspiciously.**

**"Can I walk with you girls? Suddenly I feel like a walk in the park."**

**"Sure," Liz said. "We'd be glad to have the company." Vera smiled.**

**As they walked, another conversation was taking place elsewhere in town.**

**_"I don't care what the reasons were! I want results! Get that! Results! If you can't get that, I'll put someone in charge who can!"_**

****

**_"Sir, our operation has been compromised. The sheriff is onto us. He mentioned the Unit specifically. And he issued a threat if we didn't stay away from the girl."_**

****

**_"I don't care about the sheriff's threats. You know how to handle situations like that."_**

****

**_"The sheriff?"_**

****

**_"Take care of it. And Barker, do not call me back if you do not have good news for me, 'cause if you do, I may have someone do what the sheriff threatened to do. Am I making myself clear?"_**

****

**_"Yes, sir! Perfectly, sir!"_******

**tbc**

**Coming next: Valenti is in the cross-hairs, and Liz visits the cemetery.**


	4. Dreams03

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Sheriff In The Crosshairs**

**Chapter 3**

**III******

**"H****ansen, you might as well go on home. I can handle things from here on out… for the rest of the day."**

**"You sure, Sheriff? I've still got three hours before my shift ends."**

**"Yeah, I can handle it. Go on. Get out of here."**

**"Okay, Sheriff… but if you need me…"**

**Jim shook his head, and Hansen walked toward the door. Then he stopped and turned around.**

**"Sheriff, you're expectin' trouble aren't you?"**

**"Get out of here, Hansen! That's an order!"**

**"You may need some help…"**

**"Go home."**

**"Sir, with all due respect, I'm still on duty. If you're expectin' trouble, I should be here to help."**

**Jim sighed and turned around to face his deputy. "Thanks, Hansen. I appreciate your diligence, and it's duly noted… but there's no point in us both getting' killed now is there?"**

**"Sir!"**

**"Hansen, that's an order!"**

**Hansen sighed and walked toward the door. As he reached the door, the phone rang.**

**Jim picked up the receiver. "Sheriff's office." **

**"Sheriff, it's Jeff Parker. You got a moment?"**

**"Yeah, sure, Jeff. What is it?"  
  
**

**"Well, maybe nothing, but… Liz wants Vera to take her over to the New Haven Cemetery, and I was wonderin' if you could…"**

**"Jeff, it'd really be best right now if you could convince her to wait until later… maybe tomorrow… better still, a few days."**

**"I'm sorry, Sheriff… it's just that… they already left."**

**Jim closed his eyes.**

**"Sheriff? Are you still there?"**

**"Yeah, Jeff, I'm here. All right, I'll keep an eye on 'em."**

**"Thanks, Jim. You don't know how much I appreciate it."**

**"Somehow I will," Jim said to himself as he hung up the phone. Turning around, he noticed that Hansen was still standing at the door looking at him.**

**"Hansen, what are you doin' standing around? Your shift doesn't end for three more hours!"**

**Hansen grinned, and Jim smiled. **

**"Yes, sir, Sheriff!"**

**"Hansen?"**

**"Sir?"**

**"How many mirrors do we have in this complex?"**

**"Excuse me?"**

**"How many mirrors?"**

**"I don't know. I never counted 'em. There's the one in the men's room down the hall. I reckon there's one in the ladies room as well. I've never been in there, but I imagine they put one in there, too. Upstairs there's two more bathrooms. And there's a mirror in the lounge on this floor. I guess that's five… that I know of."**

**"Okay."**

**Hansen looked at Jim suspiciously.**

**"You plannin' somethin' Sheriff?"**

**"Yeah. Come on! Help me take the mirror out of the men's room."  
  
**

**Hansen followed Jim to the men's room, and together they carefully removed a large mirror from the wall.**

**"Sheriff, you wanna tell me what you're gonna do with this?"**

**"Create a decoy."**

**"For whom?"**

**"You ask too many questions, Deputy."**

**Sorry, Sir."**

**"That's all right. I reckon you've got the right to know. I'm expectin' someone to want to get me out of their way… a special unit of the army… very unofficial… and deadly."**

**"The ones who ordered the massacre at graduation?"**

**Jim looked at Hansen. "What do you know about that, Hansen?"**

**"More than I wanted to say. I keep my eyes open, Sheriff. But you can't fight the whole army."**

**"Well, Deputy, I'm not plannin' on havin' to fight the whole army… just a few renegade sharpshooters… We're gonna set this mirror up on its end in my chair behind my desk. Then we're gonna get the mirror out of the ladies' room and cut it –or break it- in half. I'll show you what we're gonna do with it."**

**Jim and Hansen carried the second mirror out and placed it on Jim's desk. Then Jim pulled a small glass cutter out of his drawer.**

**"You keep a glass cutter, Sheriff?"**

**"A sheriff never knows what he's gonna need, Hansen. I might have to rescue someone from a burning building or something."**

**"Couldn't you just break the glass?"**

**"Hansen!" Jim gave Hansen an exasperated look. "Just help me hold this, okay?"**

**"Yes, Sir." Hansen held the edge, as Jim scored the mirror in the middle. Then they placed it over the edge of the desk, and Jim held the inside edge as he gave the glass a rap, breaking it along the score. Jim removed some of the backing from the mirror halves so that light could pass through, then he placed the two parts in front of a small TV, inserted a videotape into the VCR, and turned it on. The video came on, and Jim appeared on the screen, sitting in his chair giving an interview to the local TV news crews after he had got his job back. Jim had recorded the segment off the TV news. He paused the picture momentarily.**

**Hansen looked at the mirror in Jim's chair and his mouth dropped open. **

**"You… you look like you're sitting in your chair, Sheriff. You look kind of small, though."**

**"Well, we wouldn't want that, would we, Deputy… me lookin' too small." Jim moved one half of the glass in front of the TV a little further away from the other half, and the image in the mirror grew larger.**

**"Dang!" Hansen exclaimed. "If it wasn't just a little out of focus, I'd swear you was sittin' there in that chair, Sheriff! Where'd you learn to do that?"**

**Jim smiled. "I watched some McGyver. And it'll just have to stay out of focus. We don't have time to make a masterpiece out of it. I need you to help me with one more thing, Deputy, before I open that curtain up on my window."**

**"Sure, Sheriff. What's that?"**

**A few minutes later, Deputy Hansen opened the curtains, giving an unobstructed view of the reflected image of Jim sitting in his chair talking and moving his hands. Then Deputy Hansen opened the door and walked out holding the arm of a rather sturdy-looking lady.''**

**"Deputy?"**

**"Yes, Sir?"**

**"If you ever mention this to anyone…"**

**Hansen smiled. "Duly noted, Sir."**

**                                         ************

**[i]"Bulldog here. Someone is coming out… It's the deputy… and a woman."**

**"Hold your fire, Bulldog. We just want Target One. No collateral."**

**"Roger that, Samson. I have a lock on Target One."**

**"Is there anyone on the street?"**

**"Two… kids playing down the block."**

**"Hold your fire until they're not in sight."**

**"Acknowledged. Bulldog over."[/i]**

**~Twelve minutes later~**

**[i]"This is Bulldog. Target One is clear."**

**"You have go, Bulldog. Terminate target."[/i]**

**A second later, a high-powered bullet blasted through the window of the sheriff's station, shattering the window and the mirror in Jim's chair.**

**[i]"This is Bulldog. Come back!"**

**"Go ahead, Bulldog."**

**"Something's not right here. I need clearance to enter the target site."**

**"Do it. Stay on it, Bulldog. Report back."**

**"Bulldog out."[/i]**

**The agent climbed quickly down the fire escape from the roof of a nearby building and crossed over to the sheriff's station. Kicking the door in, he looked around the inside with his rifle ready for any resistance. He found none… just a TV and a VCR running, two pieces of a broken mirror, and in Sheriff Jim Valenti's chair, a pile of broken glass.**

**[i]"This is Bulldog. Outcome Negative. Repeat. Outcome Negative."**

**"You missed?"**

**"Target One had a decoy. Target has evaded the net."[/i]**

**                                       ************

**Vera helped Liz out of her wheelchair, and she sat down on the ground in front of the granite memorial marker. Then she reached out and touched it, running her hand over the engraved words… **

**                                    Maxwell Evans**

**                                     1984 – 2002**

**Tears filled up her eyes, and she wiped her fingertips across her cheek, but it was like trying to drain the sea with a straw. The tears rolled down her face faster than she could wipe them away. She stopped even trying.**

**"It wasn't supposed to be like this, Max. We were supposed to live happily ever after. You should never have healed me. Look what it got you!" Liz began to sob, and Vera helped her wipe some of the tears away with a handkerchief.**

**"If you hadn't healed me, you would still be alive. Nobody would have ever known about you. Why did you have to love me? You weren't even supposed to love me. You just did. And you're the one who got hurt. I couldn't help loving you, Max. I couldn't help myself. I loved you so much. I'll always love you! Always, Max! I can't even imagine my life without you? You are my life. You're my soul! I was everything with you… I'm nothing without you…" Liz began to sob again, and Vera tried to coax her to leave, but Liz shook her head.**

**"Who's going to save your people now, Max? I betrayed them all by loving you. Because of me, Kivar wins. Where's the fairness in that, Max? All I ever did was love you! Why did you have to die?" **

**Liz sank to the ground and sobbed, not caring that her face was pressed into the grass and she was unable to move or stand up. At the moment, she would just as soon have stayed that way until she could join Max and have the life she so yearned for with the one person she knew she would ever truly love.**

**"Liz… sweetheart… let me help you up."**

**"Leave me, Vera. I don't want to get up. I want to be with Max."**

**"Max isn't here, sweetheart. He's gone on to… wherever he was meant to go. It won't do anyone any good for you to pine your heart away here."**

**"Can't you understand, Vera?"**

**Vera was silent for a moment, then she sat down beside Liz and stroked her back gently.**

**"I do understand, honey. I lost someone, too… in Viet Nam."**

**Liz looked at Vera and wiped her eyes. "A… boyfriend?"**

**Vera nodded. "Fiancé. We were going to get married when he returned."**

**"I'm sorry."**

**"It was a long time ago, honey. I haven't stopped loving him. But I've gone on with my life."**

**"How, Vera? I don't know how to…" Tears started to run again from Liz's eyes.**

**"I know it doesn't seem possible now, Liz, but time heals wounds.**

**"Some wounds never heal, Vera. The bullet that went through my head and the bullet that crushed my spine made wounds that will heal… at least outside… but…" Liz motioned toward Max's grave. "This wound will never heal for me."**

**"I know. But life will go on, Liz. And you will go on."**

**Liz looked up to see Sheriff Valenti standing there.**

**"Ladies."**

**"Sheriff! You surprised me," Vera said. "I didn't expect to see you here."**

**"I have to be everywhere, Vera. Wherever duty calls."**

**"Is this duty?"**

**"A sheriff is always on duty. But since I just happen to be here right now, maybe I can talk to Liz a bit. Would you mind, Liz?"**

**"I don't mind. Vera, would you help me up, please?"**

**Vera reached out with both arms to help Liz up and back into her wheelchair.**

**"Did you visit the other graves yet, Liz?"**

**Liz nodded. "I can't look at these markers, sheriff, and think about Maria being there… being gone… or Michael… or Isabel. Much less…" She motioned toward Max's grave, and tears began to run down her face again.**

**"It just doesn't seem right or real. Maria was so alive and happy. Michael and Maria were so great together… Now they're gone. These graves… they're so sad. And Max… Max was my heart. What am I without him? I don't know how to go on."**

**Vera handed Liz her handkerchief, and Liz passed it over her eyes. **

**"That's your emotions talking, Liz. You can be whatever you put your mind to," Jim said. "I know you. You're strong inside. And you're smart. You can do anything… and you will."**

**"Then why do my emotions have to hurt so bad, Sheriff? I'd rather have another bullet in my head…"**

**"I know," Jim said softly. "What you're feeling right now is normal."**

**"Sheriff?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Did you see the… you know… the bodies?"**

**"I was at the graduation, Liz, remember? …to see Kyle graduate… when it happened."**

**"Yeah, but did you see the bodies?"**

**"Well, Max and Michael were found with their bike… a couple of miles from the school, so I never saw their bodies. They were taken straight to the hospital. I saw you and Maria and Principal Van Der Shul… and Isabel… after you were shot… before they took you away."**

**"But I was still alive."**

**"Yeah."**

**"Then the others were… dead?"**

**"Principal Van Der Shul was already dead. The others were alive… barely, but they died before they were transported, Liz. They were all DOA."**

**"Did you see them die?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Did you see… Did they… have a funeral?"**

**"You mean did I see them in the caskets? No. The hospital sealed the caskets. They said it was best… considering the wounds… and the parents agreed."**

**Liz seemed to sit up straighter. She was silent for a moment.**

**"Did you see the autopsy reports, Sheriff?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Max's? And Michael's? And Isabel's?"**

**"Yeah. I know what you're thinking, Liz. Believe me, I checked it out. I questioned the coroner intensively… without telling him exactly what I was looking for. Fact is, he did very limited tests on the bodies. The wounds were obvious. Nobody questioned how it happened. There was no reason to do a complete autopsy."**

**"I thought in the case of murder a complete autopsy was kind of the norm, Sheriff?"**

**"Well, it is… normally. Like I said, I checked it out. The coroner assured me that he didn't have to do anything, because the bullet wounds were the obvious cause of death. That's what he certified as the cause of death."**

**"And the… you know, the ones who shot them… didn't try to get autopsy reports or see the bodies or get samples or something? Doesn't that seem odd to you, Sheriff?"**

**"Yes, it does. Of course, they did get copies of the autopsy report, but like I said, it didn't say anything."**

**"They wouldn't let a chance like that pass, Sheriff. I know it. If they didn't ask for samples, they got them somehow. You can count on it."**

**"I suspect you're right, Liz. But they already knew… I don't know what good it would do them. Max and Michael and Isabel can't be touched by them now."**

**"And Maria?"**

**"She can't either," Jim said.**

**"I know. But something isn't right. I feel it inside."**

**"Oh, I forgot! The coroner gave me something. I kept it in my pocket all this time. After all these months, I just about forgot about it." Jim pulled a ring out of his pocket and handed it to Liz.**

**"It was Max's. I thought you'd like to have it, Liz. It's inscribed inside. You gave it to him."**

**Liz smiled and took the ring. As it touched her hand, a shock suddenly ran through her body.**

**[i]"Liz!"[/i]**

**Jim looked at Liz, and she was as white as a ghost. He touched her cheek and looked into her eyes.**

**"Liz! Are you okay? You kind of left us there for a minute! What happened?"**

**Liz looked at Jim, her eyes wide. **

**"It's Max… He's alive."**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Confusion reigns for Liz as she tries to find Max but sees visions and sights that make her begin to think that she might actually be going insane. Liz begins to keep a diary of her visions, and the town council pressures Jim Valenti to convince Liz's family to leave Roswell with her… for the "good" of Roswell.**


	5. Dreams04

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Voices From The Grave**

**Chapter 4**

**IV******

**"H****e's alive," Liz gasped, eyes wide and appearing to be in shock.**

**"Liz, you've been through a lot," Jim replied gently. "Coming out here to Max's grave may not have been the best thing for you right now. This is your heart talking… It's making you imagine things…"**

**Liz shook her head. "No, Sheriff! Max is alive. I know it." **

**"What makes you think that, Liz?"**

**"When I touched the ring… I heard him call me."**

**"You heard his voice?"**

**"More like his mind… calling to me."**

**"Like he was looking for you?"**

**"No. Like he's in trouble."**

**"Do you really think if Max was in trouble he would call you and have you put yourself in danger, too, Liz?"**

**"You don't understand, Sheriff. Max and I have… a connection. I can't describe it. He wouldn't have to call out to me. I would just know."**

**Jim looked at Liz for several moments then nodded.**

**"You know what, Liz? Strange as it seems, I believe you. If any two people ever had a connection with each other it was you and Max. I've seen the two of you… how you are together. But you know this brings up a whole bunch of questions and problems. If you're sensing Max, and he's alive… then what's in that grave? And where is Max? And if Max really is alive… then what about the others? I saw them die… some of them… but if Max is alive, I think I ought to check all of them."**

**"Would that be a problem, Sheriff?"**

**Jim whistled slightly. "I'd have to get permission from the families to exhume the bodies. Either that or get a judge's order. Judge Lewis isn't exactly my biggest fan. He's not likely to grant me an order."**

**"He's the one that fired you."**

**"Yeah. Well, he suspended me. The city council had to make it official. And when the city council was taking so much heat after graduation, Judge Lewis tried to get 'em to hire a sheriff from a big city to come take over. But the council just wanted the heat off them as fast as possible. Rushing me back into the job was the fastest and easiest and cheapest way for them to do that. I can't say as how Judge Lewis was very pleased with their decision."**

**"So you need Max's parents to give permission…"**

**"Yeah."**

**"I think I can get it," Liz said. "What about Maria?"**

**"Amy," Jim said, closing his eyes and showing more stress than normal. "I really wish I didn't have to ask Amy to do that… If Amy thought there was even a small chance that Maria might be alive, she'd dig that grave up herself with her own hands. I just don't want to get her goin' and then have to break her heart again, you know what I mean?"**

**Liz nodded.**

**Jim groaned then sighed. "I'll figure out somethin'. Maybe if we open Max's grave and Michael's… Michael was an emancipated teen. I might have the authority to open his grave without Judge Lewis' consent. Even if Hank was still around, he wouldn't have any say."**

**"And if you don't find Max or Michael here, Sheriff, will you speak to Amy?"**

**Jim nodded. "If Max and Isabel and Michael aren't here… I think then I'd be bound by every right and duty to check Maria's grave, too."**

**Liz smiled.**

**"Thanks, Sheriff."**

**"Can I walk you back to your car, Liz?"**

**"I'd appreciate that," Liz said. Vera smiled and nodded, too.**

**"Liz, did you get any feeling for where Max is? I mean, that's assuming he's alive, of course."**

**"No. Just a sudden voice in my head, like a call, only not a call… sort of a momentary connection."**

**Jim nodded. "Well, we'll get to the bottom of it. If there's somethin' to it, we'll find out soon enough, I promise."**

**Jim walked to Vera's car and waited to open the door. Can I help you, Vera?"**

**"No thanks, Sheriff. She's very light."**

**"I'll hold the door for you."**

**Vera helped Liz out of the wheelchair and into the front seat of the car then she closed the door and turned to Jim…**

**"Sheriff, do you think what you're doing is a good idea?"**

**"What's that, Vera?"**

**"Leading this little girl on like that. Humoring her the way you were. She's confused right now. I'm just not sure pretending to agree with her… her fantasies… is the right thing for her."**

**"Ah! I see. Vera, there are more things on this Earth and in the universe than either one of us knows about or is likely to ever understand. I'm not leading Liz on. I believe her."**

**Vera stood there for a moment looking at the sheriff, not knowing what to say.**

**"Well, I'd just hate to see her get hurt any more than she already has been…"**

**"I would, too, Vera. But I owe her this. And if Liz says she thinks Max is alive, that's good enough reason in my mind for me to check it out at least."**

**Vera smiled slightly then nodded and got into her car. Jim watched as she pulled out and drove down the road, then he followed in his own vehicle, just far enough back not to be noticed. When Vera and Liz were safely back in the apartment above the CrashDown, Jim turned around and drove back to the Sheriff's station.**

**                                         ************

**Back at the station, Jim stepped out of his vehicle and started to walk toward his office. Then, noticing a car parked nearby, he walked over to check it out.**

**"Rolls Royce! Royal blue! Nice! Not on a sheriff's salary!" Jim chuckled to himself then walked into his office prepared to sprawl out on the sofa for a few minutes to relax, but he found the sofa already occupied.**

**"Judge! Won't you come in?"**

**"I think you'll notice I already am in, Sheriff."**

**"I just thought I'd invite you so I wouldn't have to go to the trouble of arrestin' you for trespassing… not to mention breaking and entering?"**

**"I've got a key, Jim. I'm a judge. I'm also on the city council… unofficially. It's not trespassing."**

**"That might be a matter for some debate, Judge, but you're here, so what can I do for you?"**

**"I want you to stop spending valuable city time running around after that girl."**

**"She needs protection, Judge. I'm the sheriff. That's my job."**

**"Your job, Jim, is to do what I tell you to do, and I'm tellin' you to stay away from that girl!"**

**"Why are you all of a sudden so interested in the fact I'm protecting her, Judge?"**

**"That's not your business, Sheriff."**

**"It's mine now," Jim replied sternly.**

**"Thing is, Sheriff, I got a visit from the army last night. You are being accused of impeding an army investigation into the happenings at graduation."**

**"Is that what they're calling it? Impeding an investigation?" Jim sneered. "I would've called it attempted murder."**

**"Jim, you're in contempt! The army wants to clear this mess up, and it's in the best interest of this city to let them do that… as fast as possible… and get on with our business."**

**"I thought they already tried those guys that did it, Judge. Seems to me the army said they had it all wrapped up already. What could they possibly want now?"**

**"The army, Jim, is very important in this city! They pay a lot of salaries. They spend money in this town… lots of it!"**

**Jim looked out the window. "Is that a Rolls Royce you drove here in, Judge? Looks new. Bein' a judge has gotten to be a lot more lucrative lately, has it?" **

**Judge Lewis glared at Jim then stood up and walked to the door.**

**"I'll let myself out, Sheriff. You heed my words. The council may want you here now, but you're treadin' on thin ice… very thin ice. Stay away from that Parker girl! That's not a request… That's an order!"**

**After Judge Lewis had driven away, Jim picked up the phone and dialed Hansen's number. **

**[i]"Hello?"[/i]**

**"Hansen? You still want some overtime?"**

**[i]"Sure, Sheriff. What do you need?"[/i]**

**"I need you to help me watch Liz Parker."**

**[i]"I thought you wanted to do that yourself, Sheriff."[/i]**

**"And I still intend to, Hansen. I'm doubling the protection she's getting."**

**[i]"Why?"[/i]**

**"Because Judge Lewis wants me to keep away from her… and the army wants me to keep away from her."**

**Hansen was quiet for several moments before answering. [i]"That sounds like a good enough reason to me, Sheriff."[/i] **

**                                           ************

**Vera pushed Liz's wheelchair into the apartment then turned around to shut the door and lock it.**

**"Hello, Liz."**

**Liz turned her head around quickly, recognizing the voice.**

**"Kyle! Omigod! What in the world are you doing here? How'd you get in?"**

**"Your Dad let me in. He had to go back down and flip some more burgers. He said I could wait for you here. Is that alright?"**

**"Alright? Kyle! It's wonderful! Come here and give me a hug!"**

**Kyle smiled and walked over to Liz. Liz put her arms around him.**

**"I've almost gotten the full use of my arms back now, Kyle. I still can't feel my legs, but I haven't given up. Does your Dad know you're here?"**

**"No, and I'd rather keep it that way. He thinks he's protecting me. He wants me to stay out of Roswell… as far out of it as possible for the time being."**

**"He just wants to make sure you stay alive, Kyle. I understand."**

**"Yeah, I know. But what's life without a few risks, huh, Liz?"**

**Liz shook her head and smiled. "Well, you know I'm glad to see you, Kyle. I haven't seen any of our friends since… graduation."**

**"I know," Kyle said sympathetically. "I can't believe that Alex and I are the only ones left… besides you, I mean."**

**"Can I tell you something, Kyle?"**

**"Anything, Liz. You know that."**

**"Well, this may sound kind of crazy."**

**"I'll consider the source," Kyle said with a grin. **

**"Oh, thanks, Kyle," Liz said, returning the grin. "That makes me feel soooo much better."**

**"What did you want to tell me, Liz?"**

**"I don't think Max is dead. No… I know Max isn't dead. Michael and Isabel and Maria may not be, either."**

**"Okay." Kyle mulled what Liz had said over in his mind for several seconds. "Coming from almost anyone else, Liz, I'd say no way, but… why do you think they could be alive?"**

**"I felt a connection with Max today. I felt it! He's alive."**

**"And the others?"**

**"I… I know I don't have anything to go on to suggest that they could be alive, Kyle. I just thought that if Max is still alive, maybe… You know?"**

**Kyle nodded.**

**"And, Kyle… there's something else. I haven't told anyone yet… not even Daddy."**

**Kyle looked at Liz questioningly, and Liz rolled her chair into her room and returned with a small diary.**

**"I'm keeping a diary, Kyle."**

**"There's nothing strange about that, Liz. You always kept a diary."**

**"Not like this one."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**Liz picked up the diary and began to read…**

**[i]We went diving in the Golden Sea today. Max looked so gallant standing there with his hand out waiting for me to step into the surf with him. I don't know how many times we've dived together now… I've lost count. It is so beautiful. And our children love coming here. Andya is getting to be quite proficient on the Sysscha board. Maya has even dived with us a couple of times. JoLeesa loves the beach. She would rather sun herself on the beach than almost anything. Alyyx is only seven, and he's almost as proficient as Andya now on the Sysscha board, and he's already talking about how he wants to try a zoombor board. I think that's still a few years away for him, though. And Jeffy… little Jeffy really loves sitting in the gentle waves. I can't help being overprotective of him, even though I know that with his powers, he probably couldn't drown…"[/i] **

**"Do you want me to go on, Kyle?"**

**Kyle seemed at a loss for words. Then he nodded. "Well, I think it's nice, Liz. It's like a novel or something. There's nothing wrong with expressing our inner desires and our feelings as stories or fables. Buddha…"**

**"You don't understand, Kyle."**

**"I think five kids sounds a little unbelievable, though, Liz."**

**"Well, three of them are triplets. Look, Kyle, This isn't something I'm just making up. I'm seeing it. I'm feeling the emotions. And I write it down. Listen to this."**

**[i]Max and I went over to see Kyle and Jeliya this afternoon. Rayyn and Taz came out to meet us. They're getting to be such handsome boys. Rayyn looks a lot like Kyle, and Taz looks more like his mama. But I see Kyle's mischief in both of them's eyes…"[/i]**

**"Hold it! Hold it! Liz. You're saying you're seeing the future or something, and I'm married… with kids…?"**

**"I don't know, Kyle. I see these visions sometimes… and I feel these feelings, and it's like I'm there. I don't know where there is. Well, I do… kind of. It's on Max's planet… Antar. I just don't know why I'm seeing myself there. And I see these children… They're supposed to be mine… and I know them… but they don't exist. Am I going crazy, Kyle? If I'm hallucinating about these visions, could I be hallucinating about feeling Max today, too? 'Cause if I am…"**

**Liz didn't finish.**

**Kyle struggled for something to say. Finally, he seemed to find his voice again. "I don't know what you're seeing, Liz… but you're not crazy… or hallucinating either. You've had visions before, and they always mean something. I'm not sure I believe that you and Max have five kids and live on Antar in some future or something… or that I'll ever live on Antar and marry someone named Jeliya… We were married, right?"**

**"Yeah."**

**Kyle nodded. "But your visions always mean something." **

**"Thanks, Kyle. I knew it, too. I did feel Max today. I wasn't hallucinating. I just wish I knew what these visions meant… and why I'm having them now."**

**"We'll figure it out, Liz. Once we do, I know they'll make total sense."**

**"I hope so."**

**"They will."**

**~On the other side of Roswell, meanwhile~**

**"Have you handled the situation with Sheriff Valenti, Judge?"**

**"I did. He won't be around the girl any more. You can complete your investigation now gentlemen."**

**"Good."**

**"Just what are you investigating now, if I might ask?"**

**The agent pulled out a wad of money and counted out twenty-two hundred dollar bills, tossing them on Judge Lewis' desk.**

**"Did you have a question, Judge?"**

**"I forgot."**

**"Let's keep it that way."**

**tbc**

**Next time: Valenti tries to reopen Max and Michael's graves but is confronted by Judge Lewis with an order to desist. And Liz feels another connection… this time to Maria, who brings a message.**


	6. Dreams05

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Deadly Secrets**

**Chapter 5**

**V******

**Jim watched, with Deputies Hansen, Carter, and Davis right behind him, as Judge Lewis picked up his golf club and stepped into the sand trap. **

**"Jim, I wouldn't let you reopen that girl's grave if you did have some kinda proof that something wasn't right… And you don't! Right now you're just ruining my handicap. And that's all I have to say on the matter."**

**Jim shook his head in frustration. "You don't have one good reason not to allow me to check the DeLuca girl's grave, Judge. If I'm right…"**

**"If you're right, Jim… That's a mighty big 'if.' You're grasping at straws to try to salvage your reputation at that young girl's expense… at her family's expense."**

**"You're letting your feelings about me cloud your judgment, Judge. Maria DeLuca only had her mother, and her mother's a good friend of mine."**

**Judge Lewis stopped and looked up then leaned on his club, as he wagged his finger. "That's right! You and her mom had a thing together once, didn't you, Jim? That's just all the more reason I won't permit you to do this. You're obsessed. This whole thing with this girl is an obsession with you."**

**"Judge, you know if it was anyone else but the DeLuca girl…"**

**"If it was anyone else, you could do what you wanted, Jim. But it's not anyone else! You're obsessed with this girl, and I've said No! That's the end of it!"**

**Jim looked at his deputies and gave a nod. "Let's go, guys. Thanks, Judge."**

**Judge Lewis swung his club, sending up a powder of sand and dropping the ball just outside the sand pit. He groaned and glared at Jim as he walked away, then he stepped out of the sand pit and shook his head. "Imbecile! Made me ruin a perfectly good shot. Don't thank me, Jim! I ain't done you no favors… and I ain't goin' to." But Jim was already out of earshot.**

**"What are you plannin' to do now," Hansen asked.**

**"…Open Max Evans' grave, Deputy. And then I'm gonna open Isabel Evans' and Michael Guerin's graves."**

**"But Judge Lewis…"**

**"…said if it was anyone else but the DeLuca girl I could do what I wanted. You heard him, Hansen."**

**"Yeah, but I'm not sure he meant…"**

**"Carter? Davis? What'd the judge say?"**

**"That you could do what you wanted, sir, as long as it wasn't the DeLuca girl," Deputy Carter replied. "But, Sheriff, I don't think he expected…"**

**"Shhh! We're not going to second guess the judge, are we, Carter?"**

**"Well, no sir…"**

**"Then let's go check out those other graves."**

**"You set the judge up, didn't you, Sheriff," Hansen said quietly. "It was the other graves you wanted to open all along." Jim smiled but didn't answer. **

**                                      ********** **

**~Las Cruces, doña Ana County, New Mexico~ **

**Alex sat down at a desk in the second row and looked around. He was early, and only a few other students had arrived yet, so he opened the class textbook. As he began to thumb through it idly, a voice got his attention… **

**"Hi. You new here?"**

**Alex looked up at the blonde haired girl who had just sat down in the seat beside him and smiled. "Yeah. You, too?"**

**The girl smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Where you from?"**

**"Roswell. How about you?"**

**"All around. We moved a lot. Daddy works for the government."**

**Alex nodded. "Any place you call home?"**

**"Virginia… well, at least it was for a while. We spent a couple of years there. Dad could be close to D.C. there. We lived a couple of years in San Francisco, too… near the Air Force Base."**

**"Kind of a 'Military Brat' huh," Alex said with a grin.**

**"No, not really. Daddy wasn't in the military. He just did contract work for the government."**

**"Ah."**

**"What's your name?"**

**"Alex… Alex Whitman."**

**"Hi, Alex. I'm, uh… Angie. Angie Lee."**

**"Nice to meet you, Angie Lee."**

**The girl smiled. "I guess we've got calculus together."**

**"Looks like it," Alex said. He motioned toward an old, leather-bound book that the girl was carrying between her other books. "What class is that for?"**

**"This? Oh… I brought it from home. It's not a textbook. Well, it might be a textbook… in a way. But it's not for my classes."**

**"It looks old."**

**"Yeah. It is."**

**"Can I see it?"**

**The girl looked at the book for a moment then closed her eyes. As she did, four pictures in the book disappeared. She handed it to Alex. Alex opened the cover and thumbed through several pages.**

**"What is it, Egyptian or Native American or something? Looks like old runes."**

**"I think it's a forgotten language," the girl said. **

**"Do you know what it says?"**

**Angie shook her head. "I've tried to find out, but it seems to be unknown."**

**"You don't know anyone who can read it?"**

**"Well, I think my Dad could… but… he's…"**

**"Oh," Alex said, "I'm sorry. Wasn't there anyone else who could read it?"**

**The girl shook her head again. "I don't think this language exists here anymore. It's totally unknown."**

**"Really," Alex asked, starting to show a considerable interest in the book. "Totally unknown? You know, they have a great new computer here that might be able to help you translate it."**

**"Yeah, I heard that," Angie said. "But I'm not the world's greatest computer expert."**

**"Well… if you need any help…" Alex said, "I might be able to help you."**

**The girl smiled. "Are you good at math and languages?"**

**"I did okay. I know a little Swedish and a bit of Spanish. And I got A's in Algebra and Trig."**

**The girl raised her eyebrows. "I'm impressed. I was going to go over to the Litvack computer sciences building tonight at around eight. If you want to, you could join me… if you're really interested."**

**"Sure! I like figuring things out. This looks like it could be a real challenge!"**

**"I guess it's a date then."**

**"Yeah, I guess so," Alex said. "I never could resist a good mystery. I hope you don't think I was hitting on you…"**

**The girl smiled. "Actually, I kind of hoped you were."**

**                                        ************

**~At about the same time, somewhere in Area 51~**

**"Mathers! What the hell are all these alarms and horns going off for? I don't see any fires or any foreign armies attacking!" **

**"No, sir! It's the 'guests', sir."**

**"What about the guests?"**

**"They're gone, sir."**

**General Hawkins stared at Colonel Mathers for several moments with an intensity that left Mathers feeling uncomfortably warm. "Gone? How could they be gone? That's impossible!"**

**"I don't know how, sir. They just are."**

**"Did they get off the base?"**

**"Unknown, sir. We don't think so."**

**"Okay… Make sure that they don't! And Mathers… find them! Otherwise, our 'guest' facilities will be open for new occupants… Am I making myself clear?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Good!"**

**As the alarms continued to blare, soldiers and guards were dispatched to all the perimeters of the base to seal off the exits and any potential escape routes… not that there were very many of these to begin with. But the problem that faced the General was admittedly a little unusual for Area 51. The guards and soldiers posted at the fences usually had to prevent unwanted "snoops" from sneaking in to see what went on in Area 51. It was almost inconceivable to the General or to anyone else inside that anyone or anything could escape from the "guest quarters," much less get off of the base. But now it appeared that something had at least done the former.**

**General Hawkins walked swiftly to Containment Area B. Stopping only momentarily to submit to a fingerprint and eye scan at the entrance, he passed quickly through, escorted by the guards.**

**"Lieutenant! Is everything in order?"**

**"Yes sir!"**

**"Have extra guards posted around the craft… as a precaution."**

**"Already done, sir."**

**"Good." General Hawkins looked around the large hangar-type room. Everything appeared to be secure. He nodded and left as quickly as he had come, heading for Containment Area A, which was usually referred to internally as the "guest quarters" or "guest facilities." The name was misleading, even sadistic in its own way. It implied a benign purpose, but the truth was somewhat different. No "guest" who had ever stayed there ever did so willingly, and no guest -ever- had checked out… at least not until now.**

**                                          ************

**Liz sat nearby watching from her wheelchair as the men dug. Her father and Kyle Valenti stood beside her on one side. Alex Whitman stood beside her on the other side. Jim Valenti had been less than happy with Kyle's decision to return to Roswell to be present for this, or with Alex's decision to be here for that matter, but he understood. These were their friends. Kyle and Alex had been there when their friends were killed. They wanted to be here now. Jim knew that in Kyle's place, he would do exactly the same thing, and nothing could stop him. He doubted that his son was any different. Jim had also been less than enthusiastic about Liz being present. The last thing he wanted her to see was what he hoped he would not find. He knew that Liz was firmly convinced that Max would not be here. He hoped to God that she was right.**

**"Let's stay busy here, guys," Jim barked. "We are pressed for time."**

**"What's the rush, Sheriff," Deputy Carter asked. "We've got five and a half hours left before the sun starts to go down." Jim didn't respond.**

**The diggers dug quickly into the soft ground, and it wasn't long before they reached Max's coffin and placed belts around it, which they attached to a small crane-like hoist. Then they began to raise the coffin. As the coffin cleared the grave, Jim and the others were suddenly confronted by a group of men rushing to the site. At the front of the group was Judge Lewis. Without saying a word, Judge Lewis produced a written order barring the unearthing of any of the graves of those killed at graduation. Behind Judge Lewis stood eight state troopers and someone else whom Jim recognized.**

**"Dan Lubetkin! Don't tell me you have an interest in this, too!"**

**"Jim, the state police board investigated you before. This time, they're probably going to take your license. You're out of control."**

**Jim nodded. "If doing my job is being out of control, Dan, then I guess I'm guilty as charged."**

**"You're not doing your job, Jim. You're living in a fantasy here… chasing aliens… imagining empty graves…"**

**"Then prove me wrong, Dan. Just let me open this one casket."**

**Dan shook his head. "You know I can't do that, Jim."**

**Judge Lewis motioned to two of the state troopers, and they placed handcuffs on Jim's wrists.**

**"Jim, you are hereby under arrest," Judge Lewis told him somewhat sanctimoniously.**

**"Shall I read myself my rights, Judge, or do you know them?"**

**"You have the right to… to a trial… to an attorney… to, uh… Oh hell, Jim, you know your rights!"**

**Suddenly, a loud crash brought everyone's attention back to the suspended coffin. But it was no longer suspended. It lay on the ground, half open.**

**"Sorry," Kyle said. "I must have accidentally pulled on one of these cinches.**

**Judge Lewis stood with his mouth open, as Alex rushed to help Kyle set the coffin back upright, accidentally rolling it over. As they did, a body rolled out, coming to rest face up. There was a collective gasp, even among the state troopers. Liz turned white and buried her face in her hands then began to sob.**

**"You happy now, Sheriff," Judge Lewis said, somehow seeming not at all unhappy with this turn of events. Jim stood speechless.**

**"Arrest him," Dan said to the troopers. "Take him to county in Albuquerque. We'll book him there."**

**"Uh, gentlemen…? Gentlemen, can I have your attention for a moment?" **

**Everyone turned around, and Kyle tossed an apparently mangled and bloodied hand to Judge Lewis, who gasped loudly, turned white, and brushed it away as though it were an attacking swarm of ghosts.**

**"My God, Sheriff! Does this run in your family! What are you?"**

**"The question, your honor," Alex said, "might ought to be, 'what is this?'" Alex twisted the head off the body and held it up, and Liz began to laugh uncontrollably, unable to stop herself, as she realized the truth. It was hard to tell if Judge Lewis was amused or not. He was lying sprawled out on the ground, passed out cold.**

**Jeff Parker looked at the body and the severed head, then he carefully peeled a latex mask off the face. The mask looked like Max's face. Jeff was willing to bet that all the rest of the mannequin precisely matched Max's measurements and appearance, too. **

**"Dan? Can you explain this," Jeff asked Lubetkin.**

**Lubetkin shook his head, his mouth open but nothing coming out. Jim raised his wrists behind his back, and Dan motioned to the troopers who had placed the handcuffs on him to remove them.**

**"Thank you, gentlemen," Jim said. "Now, Dan, how about we check out these other graves."**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Agents from the FBI and the army visit Judge Lewis again, and their request is more pointed this time. Judge Lewis looks for other ways to have Liz "neutralized" or turned over to the army's control, as Liz begins a search for Max and the others.**


	7. Dreams06

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Hell To Pay**

**Chapter 6**

**VI******

**T****he coffin opened, and Jim and Dan both reached in to touch the corpse. It looked like Michael. It even had injuries evident on the body… injuries that might have been sustained by falling from a motorbike and by being shot with a high-powered rifle. It felt real to the touch. But a careful examination of the face revealed a small bulge at the neckline. Jim pried at it with his fingertip until the bulge became larger. Then the entire face peeled off. Jim handed the "face" to Dan Lubetkin.**

**"Another mask," Dan said, passing the mask to Liz, who was sitting beside him in her wheelchair. "Jim, I don't understand any of this. What's going on?"**

**"The judge might be able to help us with that question, Dan," Jim said… "when he wakes up."**

**"You think aliens had something to do with this, Jim?"**

**"No."**

**"Well, that's good. I was worried that you were going to go that route… like your father did."**

**Jim looked up, his face stern and sober. "I thought my father was deluded, too, Dan. But there were things going on that led him to the conclusions he came to. I'm not at liberty to tell you everything I know, but this crime was committed by humans like you and me."**

**Jim looked back at the "wounds" on Michael's "body…" **

**"Well, maybe not quite like you and me," he clarified, the anger evident in his voice.**

**"Jim… if these bodies are all fakes… where are the real ones?"**

**"That's what I'm going to find out, Dan… That's assuming you and the judge will let me do my job now."**

**Dan nodded. "You won't have any problems from the state board or me, Jim. I think I can promise you that. I'll make sure that Judge Lewis leaves you alone, too."**

**"That would help a lot," Jim said.**

**"Sir?" Deputy Hansen interrupted, "Have you noticed the hardware on these caskets?"**

**"What about it, Deputy?"**

**"Well, it's all military issue."**

**Jim looked at it… "How do you know that? It just looks like regular hardware to me."**

**"No, sir. Hardware made for military use has a higher brass content, and some pieces contain titanium… too expensive for your average use. See the color? And look inside…" Hansen pulled part of the ticking away from the casket lid to reveal the hardware from the inside. There were tiny letters, LMM, on one hinge.**

**"Military hardware often is stamped with letters indicating the plant at which the hardware originated. It helps to track down where something was made when a plane crashes or something."**

**"Deputy, remind me to give you a raise."**

**Hansen smiled.**

**"The army, Jim?" Dan said. "You think the army has the bodies?"**

**Jim just looked at Dan without answering.**

**"Why? What would the army want with some high school kids' corpses… unless…"**

**Jim nodded.**

**"Jim, this is… I don't know… maybe I ought to stay out of this."**

**Dan and Jim both turned around as they noticed a commotion building behind them. Deputies Carter, Davis, and Johnson were trying to hold someone back… and apparently having little success. Deputy Carter yowled, as a woman's voice rose over the din…**

**"Get out of my way or I'll kick you somewhere that'll hurt even worse!"**

**"Amy," Jim sighed… "Deputies… let her pass."**

**The deputies moved aside reluctantly, and Amy charged up to Jim, her face a myriad of conflicting emotions. **

**"Jim, what is going on here? I hear you're opening the graves up and checking the bodies, and there's rumors all over town that the bodies are being mutilated… and taken away."**

**Jim shook his head emphatically. "No, Amy, that's not it! I assure you, we're not doing anything disrespectful."**

**Amy noticed Judge Lewis lying on the ground and the bloody "hand" beside him. Her eyes welled up with tears, and she began to shake.**

**Jim quickly picked up the hand. "It's not real, Amy… See?" He peeled a layer of latex from the hand. Dan walked over and showed her the "face" Jim had removed from Michael. Amy gasped.**

**"Jim, what's going on? What is all this?"**

**"That's what we're trying to find out," Jim said, trying to sound comforting and in command. "We don't have all the answers yet."**

**"But you know something, Jim. What is it?"**

**Jim swallowed and realized that he was going to have to tell Amy something.**

**"The bodies we've dug up aren't real, Amy. They're fakes… latex mannequins… made to look exactly like Max and Michael."**

**"And Maria?"**

**"We haven't checked hers yet… or Isabel's."**

**Amy grabbed the shovel beside Michael's open grave and walked quickly over to Maria's grave then began to dig.**

**"Amy, we'll do that!" **

**"When, Jim? When you get around to it? I need to know if that's my daughter in there or… or something else." Amy began to sob, and Jim put his arms around her and pulled her against his chest. "I need to know where she is, Jim. I need to know if she's…"**

**"We'll find out," Jim said. "I promise you, Amy. We'll find out."**

**Jim motioned to the gravediggers, and they immediately began to dig Maria's grave up. In less than twenty minutes, they had the coffin on the ground. Jim held Amy, as she watched, her face white and her eyes wide with fear.**

**"Open it," Jim said. Amy turned her face against Jim's chest and began to cry as the coffin opened and she glimpsed the body inside. "Is it her, Jim?"**

**Dan and Jeff carefully turned the face, looking for the telltale evidence. It took some time, but Jeff put his fingernail under an almost invisible seam and pulled, and the seam became larger.**

**"Look, Amy," Jim said. Amy turned around, as Jeff pulled the face off, leaving a blank head-shaped object where Maria's face had been.**

**Amy took the latex mask in her hands and looked at it then looked at the fake body again.**

**"Who did this, Jim?"**

**"We think the army may have them," Deputy Davis said.**

**Jim shot the deputy a look that let him know immediately that he was out of line.**

**"I'm… I'm sorry," the deputy said. "I mean, we don't know… we were just speculating."**

**"Amy," Jim said, "we have reasons to believe that the army was interested in Max and Michael… and Isabel and Liz and Maria."**

**"Because of the alien thing?" Amy asked.**

**"You know about that?" Jim asked, surprised.**

**"Well, I knew they weren't Czechoslovakians, Jim, for God's sake. I can put two and two together."**

**"You never let on…"**

**"What was I going to say, Jim? [i]Maria, you can't go out with Michael. He's an alien?[/i] Maria was too much like me, Jim… rebellious and head strong…"**

**"You, Amy? No…"**

**Amy shot Jim a sharp look, which all considered, was a lot easier than Deputy Carter had got off.**

**"Jim, I'm not saying Michael or Max was a real alien, just that there was something different about them, and Maria knew it. Maybe she thought they were aliens. Hell, maybe they were. This is Roswell, right? But I do know that there were certain people who were unusually interested in those kids… including the FBI and some army types. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually thought they were aliens. And I wouldn't be surprised to find out that's where they are now…" Amy looked at the latex "face" again. "I'm going to get answers, Jim. You can count on it. One way or the other… I'm going to get answers."**

**                                           ************

**At the gate to the army base, the young sergeant was trying heroically to hold his own, but it just wasn't enough.**

**"Private, you can get out of my way or you can get run over, but either way, I [b]am[/b] going to see the person in charge here."**

**"Lady… I'm a sergeant. See the stripes? And secondly, nobody just waltzes in here to see the person in charge. I'm not even sure who that would be."**

**"Well, sergeant," Amy said, edging her Jetta forward, "I'll find out!"**

**The young sergeant placed himself squarely in front of Amy's car and took his AK-47 off of his shoulder. "Lady," he said with exasperation evident in his voice, "if you pass this spot, I WILL have to shoot you."**

**At that moment several TV vans pulled up and began unloading cameramen and videocams. Amy smiled, and the young sergeant realized that their arrival was not by coincidence. Obviously, she had called them.**

**"BACK OFF!" the young sergeant barked at the TV crews in his most authoritative voice. "Lady, turn around NOW and leave… ALL OF YOU… You are trespassing on federal property! I have the authority to shoot anyone who does not leave. Put the cameras down!"**

**The cameramen looked at each other uneasily and lowered their videocams. Amy edged her Jetta forward again, this time pushing the young sergeant onto the hood. He rolled and jumped off, coming back to his feet in a crouching position with his AK-47 pointed directly at Amy. Immediately all the videocams went back up. The young sergeant hesitated a moment, and that was all it took. Amy pressed down on the accelerator and left desert dust between her and the sergeant, as she drove off toward the base. He raised his weapon again then looked back at the videocams all aimed in his direction. Then he pulled out a walkie-talkie and pressed the button.**

**"Sir, there's a civvie on her way in… She's driving a Volkswagen Jetta. I couldn't stop her."**

**i"That's why we give you a gun, sergeant! Alright. I'll have her stopped."/i**

**"Roger."**

**The young sergeant looked at the camera crews again. "Well, what are you waiting for? The shows over! Get out of here!" To punctuate his order, he pointed his AK-47 in the direction of the nearest cameraman. The crews slowly got back into their vans, then one by one, they drove off.**

**About a mile down the road, Amy saw a humvee headed toward her moving very fast. She moved to the right slightly to give it plenty of room to pass, but something told her that that wasn't what it intended to do. Her intuition was right. As the two vehicles drew closer to each other, the humvee swerved in front of Amy, cutting her off. Then, as she tried to go around it, gunfire riddled the side of her Jetta, and she momentarily lost control on the edge of the road. Trying to get back onto the road, she spun the car around, then before she could get it aimed straight again, her doors were jerked open and she was dragged roughly out of the car and thrown on the ground hard. A boot came down on her back, and an AK-47 was placed against her neck.**

**"Get your foot off of my back, or I will break that leg," Amy threatened with sincere vehemence, but the corporal only pressed down harder. Amy screamed, as her back felt like it was going to break, and tears came into her eyes. She reached back with her left hand –her right hand was pinned beneath her- and grabbed the gun barrel, pulling it away with a jerk. Not expecting this, the corporal accidentally depressed the trigger for a second, firing ten or twenty rounds into the ground beside Amy. Before he could recover his wits, Amy had rolled over and sat up, biting him hard on the inside of the knee. The corporal howled, and the private with him came to his aid, grabbing Amy and trying to restrain her. Amy, however, had no intention of being subdued again without a fight. She came up off the ground with a handful of dirt in her fist, letting it fly in the private's face. Momentarily blinded and choking, the private made his biggest mistake. He turned his back on Amy.**

**Confident that the private would subdue Amy handily, the corporal was still moaning over his injury, his pants leg rolled up beyond the knee so he could see the damage that had been done. Before either one realized what had happened, Amy had the private's AK-47 in her hands. Seeing Amy grab the private's gun, the corporal grabbed his own gun and aimed it at Amy, who already had the one in her hands aimed at him.**

**"Give me back the gun," the corporal said threateningly.**

**"It's not yours," Amy said. "It's his."**

**"Then give it to him… before I shoot you!"**

**"It looks to me like a standoff," Amy said. "You shoot me, I shoot you."**

**The corporal swallowed and breathed deep for a moment. "What do you want, lady?"**

**"I want to see the person in charge here."**

**"You can't."**

**Amy shrugged. "Then we can stay here and see who blinks first. I've never used one of these before. I never liked guns. I hope my finger doesn't twitch."**

**The corporal paled slightly, realizing that there was a certain honesty in what Amy was saying. He was also hoping that the private didn't do something stupid like making a grab for his gun while it was aimed at him.**

**"Okay, look, I'll call the general… see what he wants to do… Okay? But you're in a heap of trouble. You don't know what you've got yourself into, lady… You'd be a lot better off hightailing it out of here and never being seen again."**

**"Can't do that," Amy said. "And my hand's getting tired. This gun is heavy. That makes my finger twitch."**

**"Alright… alright… look, could you just… point it slightly that way… in case your finger… you know?"**

**Amy shook her head. "Call the general."**

**The corporal swallowed again then took out his walkie-talkie with his left hand, as he held his gun on Amy with his right hand.**

**"Sir, we have a… a situation here."**

**i"What's the problem?"/i**

**"I, uh, I don't have complete, um, control of the subject."**

**i"How the hell can you not have complete control, Connors? Either you have her or you don't!"/i**

**"We sort of have each other, sir."**

**There was a long pause on the walkie.**

**i"So you let the subject gain control… Is that what you're saying?"/i**

**"She wants to see you, sir."**

**Again, there was a pause.**

**i"Then bring her in,"/i the voice on the other end said at last. That was all the general said.**

**The corporal motioned toward the humvee with his free hand. "Well, you got what you wanted. God help you. You're gonna need it."**

**                                    ************

**The general stood up and stared at the wisp of a woman walking into his office. Then he looked at the corporal and the private. Both men looked like they had been through a major battle… scratched, dirty faces and arms… and the corporal was obviously hobbling. The general could barely suppress a smile.**

**"Is this the demon that got you guys whimpering with your tails tucked between your legs? I'd have you both neutered, but apparently you already have been."**

**Both men stood at attention, and both respectfully answered, "Yes, sir" together.**

**"You're dismissed. I can handle the big bad lady."**

**"Yes, sir," both men said again, turning to leave.**

**The general sat back down in his chair, smiling.**

**"So what is so important that you're willing to get shot for it?"**

**"My daughter," Amy replied simply.**

**"Oh? And… what would I have to do with your daughter?"**

**"That's what I need to find out," Amy said. **

**"Who is your daughter?"**

**"Maria DeLuca."**

**The general's smile wavered then disappeared, but he quickly smiled again as though he didn't recognize the name.**

**"Don't know her."**

**"Max Evans, Isabel Evans, Michael Guerin…" Amy said. "Do those names ring a bell?"**

**The general shook his head. "No. I'm afraid not."**

**"Liar!" Amy said. "Trials were held here on the base for men from your special unit who killed them. You wouldn't forget that."**

**"Oh, yes! Now I remember. A shame what happened to those poor kids. But the men that did it were court-martialed. They'd been drinking you know…"**

**"I was out at the cemetery this morning."**

**The general sat quietly for a moment then shrugged. "I know all about it already. I know the sheriff was out there digging the graves up… and I know what he found."**

**"And that doesn't surprise or shock you, General?"**

**The general tapped his fingers on the desk, trying to decide what the best way to handle this would be.**

**"What do you think he found?" he asked at last.**

**"Dummys… mannequins… fakes! Our children… my Maria… isn't there. I think you can tell me where they are."**

**"That's a bit presumptuous of you," the general said. "I wouldn't know where they are. I suggest you ask the county hospital… or the morgue… or the mortician."**

**Amy closed her eyes momentarily. "The coffin hinges were military hardware."**

**The general's smile, already faked and weary, disappeared completely.**

**"You'd better be very careful what you're insinuating, lady…"**

**"Amy. Amy DeLuca."**

**"Mrs. DeLuca… yes, well… if you spread those kinds of insinuations publicly, I will have to reel you in."**

**"And just what does that mean," Amy asked.**

**"The army will sue you, Mrs. DeLuca. And you may be thrown in jail… for a very, very long time."**

**"General, if you see me shaking, it's from indignation and anger. You don't intimidate me."**

**"Well, maybe I should," the general said matter-of-factly.**

**"How can you sit here and lie about what happened to those children, general? Doesn't your conscience ever bother you? Didn't your mother teach you right from wrong?"**

**The general smiled again. "I didn't have a mother, Mrs. DeLuca."**

**"Well, I would almost believe that, general. Except that it's physically impossible unless you're a clone, and I pray to God there's only one of you."**

**"My mother gave me up for adoption when I was a baby, Mrs. DeLuca."**

**"I'm sorry."**

**"Don't be. I didn't miss anything."**

**"Somebody raised you. Obviously they didn't have any morals or didn't bother to teach you any."**

**"Hey! Grandma Hawkins was a saint! Don't bring her into this!"**

**"Didn't she teach you not to lie?"**

**The general glared at Amy. "Mrs. DeLuca, you are not going to find your daughter's body on this base. I can assure you that. You have used up your welcome. I'll have you escorted to the gate."**

**"No, you won't. Not until I get some straight answers. I didn't risk my life coming here to be brushed off."**

**The general pressed a button on his desk, and a voice on the intercom asked him what he needed.**

**"Please have someone escort Mrs. DeLuca to the main gate… and make sure that she does not return."**

**i"Yes, sir."/i**

**Within seconds, two burly-looking guards stood in the room.**

**"Go with them, Mrs. DeLuca. And do yourself a favor. Drop this hunt of yours. It's only going to bring you to grief. There's nothing for you to gain from it."**

**Amy stood silently, then the guards led her from the room. General Hawkins leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply, calming his nerves, then he buzzed the receptionist again.**

**i"Yes, sir?"/i**

**"Jeannie, call my masseuse and have her come to my office… and tell her to bring a bottle of scotch. I need to relax."**

**i"Yes, sir."/i**

**The general leaned back again and rubbed his temples. Then the buzzer rang again.**

**"Yes? General Hawkins here. What is it?"**

**i"Sir, the lady has escaped."/i**

**General Hawkins sat up suddenly, his face turned bright red, and the veins in his neck seemed to throb. "Well, get some backup, then! Get her back… and get rid of her!"**

**"Permanently, sir?"**

**The general was silent for several moments, as he thought about it. "No… somebody probably knows she's here. It would be hard to explain… on top of the other problems the sheriff has caused us this morning. Just get her and escort her off the base… IMMEDIATELY!"**

**"We're working on it, sir."**

**"What does that mean?"**

**"We don't know where she is, sir. She's disappeared."**

**                                          ************

**In her house above the CrashDown, Liz looked up suddenly. In front of her stood Maria.**

**"Maria?" Liz gasped. "How did you get here?"**

**Then Liz realized that the figure in front of her was a vision. **

**"Can you hear me, Maria? No… I guess not."**

**i"Liz, if you can hear me or see me… I tried to use the power that Isabel was teaching me… to dreamwalk with you… but I don't seem to be able to do it. Maybe I'll learn to… but right now… Liz, I saw you in a vision. I guess I'm developing some kind of power like that, but I still can't seem to do it when I need to. I know you're alive. I want you to know… where we are… We need you…"/i**

**The vision of Maria began to fade away.**

**"Maria! Wait! Maria, come back!" Liz said. "Where are you?" **

**But the vision was gone.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Judge Lewis makes other plans to get rid of Liz. Amy continues to terrorize the army base. And Liz makes an unexpected connection while trying to contact Maria… with someone much further away.**


	8. Dreams07

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Wrath Of Innocents**

**Chapter 7**

**VII******

**J****udge Lewis looked up when his door opened and three men let themselves quietly into his chambers.**

**"That door was locked. How'd you get in? Don't you guys ever knock?"**

**Judge Lewis got no answer to his questions; the three men simply ignored them. All three wore street clothes, but Judge Lewis recognized them. He should… they had left enough money on his desk and in his pockets recently.**

**"You were supposed to get rid of the Parker girl, Horace," one of the men said calmly, his face stony and emotionless. "You didn't do that. The Brass isn't happy."**

**"Hey, look, guys, I tried! You know I've done everything in my power, but the sheriff is always in my way. And if it's not him, it's that deputy of his. And the girl doesn't seem inclined to want to leave Roswell."**

**"Well, you see, Judge, that was your job. You were supposed to incline her… or solve our problem for us in some other way."**

**"What problem… What way," Judge Lewis sputtered, feigning naïveté, but the men again ignored him.**

**"The Brass doesn't like ineffectual agents, Judge… and they don't like failure. We've been told to… rectify the situation."**

**The blood temporarily drained out of Judge Lewis' face. He was good at feigning ignorance or pretending not to know what was going on when it served his purposes, but his face said that he understood all too well what the agent was saying.**

**"Rectify… how…" he stammered.**

**The agents remained silent for several long moments… allowing Judge Lewis to sweat. Then one of them checked the door to make sure that it was locked. All of them looked around cautiously, then the first one reached inside his jacket. Judge Lewis dropped behind his desk and scooted under it quickly. Crouched there, he waited for the inevitable, but what he heard sounded like something being plopped down above him. Cautiously, Judge Lewis emerged from under his desk and looked at the new pile of money stacked neatly on his desk.**

**"You… you're giving me a bonus?"**

**The second agent patted Judge Lewis gently on the chest in a feigned gesture of friendliness; then suddenly, with no warning, he twisted the judge's collar tight, cutting off his airway. Judge Lewis wheezed momentarily and tried to protest, but by then nothing would come out and no air would go in. After a few seconds, the agent released the judge's collar and patted him again in a friendly way.**

**"Not a bonus, Judge. Let's call it an 'incentive.' The bonus will come if you fail us again… if you're eager to get a bonus, we can explain the plan."**

**Judge Lewis shook his head vigorously. "No! No bonus… I don't need a bonus. You've been very generous! I'll do what I can."**

**"You'll do what has to be done," the third agent said. "iWhat you can/i is irrelevant." **

**Judge Lewis nodded.**

**"And Judge," the first agent added before closing the door behind them, "That's a real nice sofa you've got over there. I'd change those pants before I sat on it."**

**                                      ************

**It was dark. The area around them was damp and muggy… and miserable. Maria couldn't see her own hands, but she knew that Isabel was still beside her. And she could hear a faint iplink, plink, plink,/i as water dripped somewhere nearby.**

**"Iz, don't give up on me now… Not here. We've come so far…" Maria felt Isabel's face. It was clammy. "Damn! Max, I really need you! Why did you and Michael go back and try to hold them off for us? If they caught you, it won't matter that you helped us escape. Isabel will die here, and I will, too… eventually… one way or the other." **

**Maria reached out in the dark and pulled Isabel to her. Isabel was shaking. Maria knew that at night it could get very cold here. They had huddled together in these underground tunnels through… well, Maria had lost count of how many nights. She wasn't even sure that she always knew when it was night or day. The only difference was that at night it got very cold. But it wasn't cold now. Actually, at the moment, it was uncomfortably warm… and Isabel was shaking. **

**"I'm so sorry, Iz. I've done everything I know how. I can't heal bullet wounds and bring people back like Max did for us after they brought us here." Maria pulled Isabel close to try to warm her, and as she touched Isabel's back, she felt blood trickle over her hand. "Damn, the wound is open again!" She laid Isabel back against the wall then reached down and tore another piece of her own pants leg off and pressed it tightly against Isabel's back, pushing it gently into the hole left by the bullet that struck her as they were escaping. "I've got to try to stop the bleeding…**

**Max, I need you… Oh, God, I need you!"**

**Maria pushed the cloth carefully into the wound. She had no tape… nothing with which to make a bandage. Several days before, she had half-torn, half-cut the waist band off of Isabel's pants with a small piece of broken glass she had found and then pulled the waist band up to her lower back to hold the previous "plug" in place. Now she pulled the band back over the new plug. It seemed to be working… for the moment. The bleeding had stopped again.**

**"Iz, I still need you. Don't give up now. You've got to teach me how to dreamwalk without you helping me. You promised, remember? You have to hang on. A promise is a promise, Iz. You can't go back on a promise. We…" Maria choked back tears. "Just don't give up, Iz. We'll make it. You've just got to hang on."**

**Maria reached over to pull Isabel back against her own body again to warm her, and as she did, she saw a flash of bright light… and a glimpse of someone hiding… someone familiar…**

**"Mom?" Maria started to yell, but she realized that she couldn't. It might give them away if anyone heard her… and secondly, she realized that what she had seen was a vision… Her mother could be anywhere. **

**"Did you do that, Isabel?" Maria asked. Isabel didn't answer. Maria pulled Isabel close again and closed her eyes, concentrating. "Isabel, help me out here if you can hear me."**

**Suddenly, Maria saw Amy clearly. She was crouching behind a large stack of steel storage drums. Then she sneaked out and ran to a new hiding place, passing behind two soldiers who were talking to each other.**

**"Mom, it is you," Maria whispered. "You're here! But how? Where are you?" Maria concentrated harder. "Mom, try to see me. Try to see me."**

**Amy stopped and looked around momentarily with a puzzled look on her face. "Maria?" Then she shook her head and ducked underneath a large craft of some kind. As she did, the two men turned and looked around the room. Knowing that she would be seen if she couldn't find a place to hide quickly, and noticing that the craft was open on the bottom, Amy climbed inside. The two guards looked around the large room a couple of times and, seeing nothing amiss, resumed their discussion.**

**Amy stood up and looked around the interior of the craft. It seemed large for an airplane, but she guessed that this was because all the seats had been removed… or not put in yet. In any case, there was a lot of room to move around inside. Amy walked along the wall on the left side until she came to a door. She knew that she probably shouldn't, but curiosity had always been her biggest weakness. She reached for the door but found no door handle. Feeling certain that there had to be some way to open a door, Amy felt around the wall and on the door itself for any evidence of an opening device. Then, frustrated, she sat down on the floor in front of the door and stared at it.**

**After a few minutes, Amy stood up again and looked around. The only thing she could see was a square outline of some kind on the wall near the door. But there was no handle on the square… nothing to pull or push… not even any evidence of a sensor of some kind. But the square was the only thing around… there was nothing else… so Amy pushed on the area inside the square. Nothing happened. She hadn't really expected anything to happen, but she had hoped that maybe… **

**Not to be defeated so easily, she pressed it again, placing the palm of her hand flat against the area inside the square. This time, there was a flash. Amy suddenly saw Maria.**

**"Mom, try to see me! I'm here, Mom!"**

**Amy looked around frantically. "I hear you, baby. Where are you? Oh, God!"**

**Amy looked around for several moments but saw nothing. "Maria? Where did you go? I heard you! I didn't imagine it…" There was no reply. Amy turned back toward the door and saw that it was now open… and in the square outline beside the door, a handprint had appeared. She put her hand against the print again. It didn't seem to have any effect. Somehow the door had opened at the exact moment she got the flash of Maria calling her. She had had her hand against the square when she got the flash… and at that precise moment, the handprint had appeared and the door had opened. It had to be connected. Not one to question the whys for too long, Amy quickly walked into what appeared to be a control room… but not like any she had ever seen. She reached out and touched the console… then her hand came upon a large crystal that was inserted into a niche in the console. The crystal moved. Carefully, she extracted it from its cradle and looked at it. Then she slipped it into her pocket.**

**Amy sat down in one of the control seats and looked around her at all the sophisticated gadgetry and sensors. She had seen the cockpit controls of a 747 once. They had been unbelievably impressive. This was less… cluttered… but somehow more impressive. She wasn't exactly sure why. It seemed somehow… otherworldly. As Amy thought about it, she noticed something glimmer above her head. It was a tiny device of some kind, and it appeared to be attached to a small rod near the ceiling magnetically, so she detached it and looked at it. It looked very much like a tiny spycam, but it was no bigger than an average-sized setting in a ring, and that set Amy's mind to thinking. She placed the tiny camera-like device on her ring, and it stuck. Then she ran her hands over the console to see if there was anything else that looked unusual. Not finding anything else that looked like it might be useful to her, Amy sat back in her seat and thought for a while about what she should do next. **

**Amy knew that if she was going to find Maria or the others she needed to be moving. She had probably already sat here for twenty minutes. That was long enough. She turned in her seat and stood up… and found herself face to face with six soldiers with their rifles all pointed at her heart.**

**For several moments, no one spoke and no one moved. Then Amy swallowed.**

**"I must have taken a wrong turn off of 285. Imagine that! I'll just be on my way if you gentlemen will move aside."**

**It wasn't working. Not that she had ever entertained any real thoughts that it would.**

**A young corporal showed up at that moment and staked out a position between Amy and the six armed soldiers. "General Hawkins wants to see you… Now!"**

**"Well, really guys, I don't think we hit it off so well the last time we were together. That was kind of a relationship that just wasn't meant to be, you know what I mean? If you'll just tell the General that for me, I'm sure he'll understand, and…"**

**The young corporal stepped out of the way, and the rifles all went to ready.**

**"Okay, okay. I'm going! But I'm telling you, this is not my idea of a good time. The General needs to find a girl who's more into S&M. I'm more plain vanilla… Okay, maybe raspberry, really, I guess, but…"**

**"Move it!" the young corporal harfed in an annoyed tone. "And shut up."**

**"Doesn't anyone in this placed have any manners," Amy asked abashedly. The young corporal gave her a stabbing look.**

**                                      ************

**The door opened, and Amy walked into General Hawkins' office suite, followed closely by the six soldiers with their rifles still pointed at her. This time, the General was not smiling, and he did not request that the soldiers put down their guns or leave him alone with her.**

**"Mrs. DeLuca," General Hawkins said, in a very annoyed tone, "You have done what no one else has ever managed to do in all the years I have been in the military. You have made me look like a complete fool."**

**Amy shrugged. "It was nothing, sir, really."**

**General Hawkins bristled but ignored Amy's comment.**

**"Mrs. DeLuca, what am I going to do with you?"**

**"Well, sir, I tried to tell these boys that it just wasn't going to work out between us. I'm really not looking for the Romeo and Juliet thing right now, you know…"**

**"Romeo and Juliet wasn't what I had in mind, Mrs. DeLuca. I was thinking more along the lines of Henry the eighth."**

**Amy swallowed. "You wouldn't do anything to me, General. Too many people know where I am."**

**The General shook his head. "Your car was seen driving off the base about three hours ago. It went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass. That was a drop of about 700 feet, I believe. I understand it was a very fiery crash. The sheriff of Copper City is on the site now, but no remains have been found. The fire was so intense, you know…" The General smiled and waited for Amy's reaction.**

**"You can't just get rid of me, General…"**

**The General nodded. "Corporal, take Mrs. DeLuca away… and make sure that her departure is bpermanent./b"**

**"Permanent, sir?"**

**"bPermanent/b, Corporal. You heard me." **

**Amy looked at her ring. "General, do you know what this is?"**

**"A ring? You think I'm worried about your husband? You don't have one, Mrs. DeLuca. Don't you think I know that? And if you did, it wouldn't matter."**

**Amy detached the tiny camera-like device and held it in her hand. "Not the ring, General, the camera."**

**General Hawkins' smile left him, and some of the blood drained from his face. "Let me see that!"**

**The corporal took it from Amy's hand and handed it to the General. He turned it over several times. "Where did you get this?"**

**"From the TV station," Amy said, bluffing. "Everything going on here is being recorded by all three local networks… and by now probably by CNN and Fox, too."**

**"I don't believe you."**

**Amy smiled. "It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not."**

**General Hawkins swallowed. There was a long pause, as he thought about the possible consequences of this revelation. **

**"Corporal!" General Hawkins said at end.**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**"Didn't you hear me? Escort Mrs. DeLuca off the base, and make sure that she stays away from here permanently this time. You got that?"**

**"Just off the base, sir?"**

**"Of course, just off the base! What did you think I meant?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Oh, and Mrs. DeLuca… I was trying to make a point with you about how dangerous it can be for a civilian to be running around out here unaccompanied. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."**

**"Of course not," Amy said. "What about my car?"**

**The General breathed deeply. "It was damaged, Mrs. DeLuca. It was unsafe to drive… and since it was on the base, it was our obligation to dispose of it in a safe manner. As I told you, it was being towed to a recycling plant, but it broke loose on the pass and went over the side. Fortunately, no one was in it, so there was no one hurt in the accident."**

**"That car was my only means of transportation."**

**General Hawkins set his jaw tightly and forced a smile. "I'll see if we can find you a replacement, Mrs. DeLuca. The Army wasn't responsible for what happened to your car, you know. The damage to your car was your own fault. We had to dispose of it responsibly. But I'm sure Washington would not want to make a big deal out of this. I'll get you a new car."**

**"New?"**

**"New," General Hawkins muttered. "Corporal!" **

**"Yes, sir!" **

**General Hawkins pointed at the door. The corporal pushed Amy out and escorted her quickly to a waiting humvee. There, the corporal had handcuffs and chains placed on Amy's wrists and feet, then she was driven off the base, followed by three more humvees with four armed soldiers in each one.**

**Back in General Hawkins' office, the General was still examining the tiny camera-like device.**

**"Lieutenant!" **

**"Yes, sir!" a young lieutenant said, hurrying into the General's office.**

**"Have you ever seen anything like this?"**

**"Looks like a spy camera, sir."**

**"I know what it looks like, lieutenant. Have you ever seen one like this one?"**

**"Well… not this small, sir. But they're making them smaller every day."**

**"Hmmm, yes, but I'm usually kept abreast of developments that might be useful to me. Lieutenant, how did the DeLuca woman get into the craft?"**

**"The bottom hatch was left open, sir. The crew trying to get into the control room was planning to return later today to try again with a new type of torch."**

**"But the DeLuca woman got into the control room, lieutenant. I want to know how!"**

**"We don't know how, sir. After she came back out, the door closed again."**

**"And it didn't occur to any of you to put something there to jam it or station someone inside the control room while the door was open?"**

**"Uh, no sir. How would someone inside get back out after the door closed?"**

**"I don't know, lieutenant! I don't care! Maybe there's a door handle inside!"**

**"I don't think so, sir."**

**"Lieutenant, we've had this craft in our hangar for sixty years… give or take a few years… and no one, ever, has been able to find so much as a seam or a rivet anywhere on the craft. We can't dismantle it. No one has ever been able to get into the control room. No torch or blaster will melt or penetrate the metal… or whatever the hell it is the thing's made of. It has frustrated every effort we have made to open the control room or dismantle the ship for SIXTY DAMN YEARS! And that woman just goes in and, bopen-sesame!/b The door opens for her?"**

**"It seems that way, sir."**

**"Find out why! I want someone watching that woman twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I don't want her to go to the bathroom without someone knowing where she is. You got that?"**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**"Good. I'm surprised she didn't ask you idiots if there was a key and fly the thing away under your noses! Get out of here. Oh, and lieutenant…"**

**"Sir?"**

**"Find out who makes these tiny spycams. I need some. And find out why I wasn't advised of their development. I don't like having local TV networks using equipment that I didn't even know existed."**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**                                        ************

**Liz sat on a park bench, her wheelchair nearby, tossing seeds to the birds and enjoying the sunshine. Her diary lay at her side, where she had been writing in it moments earlier. **

**"Hello, Liz."**

**Liz looked up and smiled. "Sheriff! What brings you out to the park?"**

**"Four of my best deputies are, uh, bird watching somewhere out here. I thought I'd check up on them."**

**"Bird watching?"**

**"Yeah, well, you never know what you'll see out here, Liz. Besides, I enjoy the park, too. It's a pleasant place to spend time."**

**"I know." Liz smiled.**

**"I see you're writing in your diary again. That's good! It's important to come to terms with one's feelings. A diary's a good way to do that."**

**Liz picked the diary up and held it out to Jim.**

**"What? You want me to read it?"**

**Liz nodded.**

**"Oh, I… Liz, this is personal. I don't think I should."**

**"It's not the juicy romantic stuff or my hot sex escapades, Sheriff," Liz said with a sly grin. "I keep all that in another diary… under lock and key."**

**Jim smiled. "Oh, okay then. What do you want me to read?"**

**Liz flipped the pages and handed it back to Jim. Jim read the page. Then he turned and read the next page… and the next. Finally, he closed the book and handed it back to Liz.**

**"Is this like your hopes for what your life will be like in the future, Liz? Or are you planning to publish it and go for a sci-fi award… one of those Yugos or whatever that guy at graduation had?"**

**"Hugo," Liz, corrected. A Yugo's a little car… about the same size, I think. I can see how you could confuse them." She smiled coyly.**

**"Actually," Liz continued, "it's more complicated than that, Sheriff. I've been having dreams… or visions… sometimes when I'm asleep and sometimes when I'm awake, of another place. I think it's Max's planet, you know, Antar. And the people there are us. I'm there, Max is there, Maria and Michael are there… even you're there, Sheriff."**

**Jim smiled. "Well, that does sound exciting. I don't see how it can be anything but a dream, though, Liz. Maybe it's like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. You know, all her friends were there… This planet hasn't gotten quite used to me yet. I don't think I could break another planet in at this stage in my life."**

**Liz nodded. "I know it sounds incredible on the surface of it, Sheriff, but when I'm seeing this other place… this other life… it all seems so right… so… I don't know, like it's supposed to be or something… and this…" she indicated the wheelchair… "all seems so wrong."**

**Jim sat down beside Liz and put his arm around her. "It is wrong, Liz. You shouldn't be in that chair. You should be going to college, meeting the guy of your dreams, or going with Max if that's who it is, learning about life's… happy times. Not about life's dark side. I can understand why you're having these dreams.**

**"You don't think I'm crazy then, Sheriff?"**

**Jim laughed. "Crazy? We should all be crazy like you, Liz. The world would be a lot better place! No, I don't think you're crazy. You have an invincible spirit that will get you through the darkest parts of life by showing you light when you need it most. I don't know where that light is coming from… if it's real or in your mind… but it's not crazy. It's the most sane thing I could ever imagine. I've seen too many people give up under stress and allow themselves to drift off into self pity, anger, even self-loathing. And the world says, hey that's normal… They [b]should[/b] be feeling angry and bitter. But you've never felt anger or bitterness, Liz. You just see things the way they should be. And that's why you will find your happiness. You will."**

**Liz wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and kissed Jim on the cheek.**

**"Thanks, Sheriff. With friends like you and Kyle, I know I will."**

**"Will you be okay here for a while, Liz? I need to check on my deputies."**

**"Sure," Liz said. "I like being out here with the birds and my thoughts… and my diary. I'll be fine. Vera's just over there at the fountains anyway. She'll be back to get me in about an hour. I asked her to leave me alone for a while. But I'm really glad you came by, Sheriff! You make me feel like everything's going to be fine!"**

**"It is, Liz. You'll make sure of that. Trust me."**

**Liz smiled.**

**"I'll pass back by here in a little while to check on you, Liz."**

**"Okay." **

**Liz went back to feeding the birds, but no more than two minutes later, another person approached. Liz looked up at the new arrival.**

**"Judge Lewis?"**

**Without speaking or asking permission, the judge sat down beside Liz. Liz pulled herself to the other side of the bench automatically without being aware she was doing it.**

**"Miss Parker."**

**Liz waited to see what the judge was going to say.**

**"I've been thinking about you… what you've been through and all. I would think you would be happier somewhere where they can give you more help… or therapy… you know, a big city or something. Roswell's such a little place really. A girl with your… needs… doesn't belong here."**

**"I'm happy here, Judge. My friends are here. I grew up here."**

**"Yes, well, most of your friends have gone off to college, but you're stuck here, unable to do anything but depend on the charity of people like Sheriff Valenti to take care of you."**

**"The sheriff is a friend. I'm not charity to him… or to any of my friends, Judge."**

**"Is that what you think? He sees someone in need and he takes time out from his valuable time to try to help them. We have to do things like that as city officials. It's incumbent of us… you know, it's expected. But do you really think you're doing him any favors by making him have to take care of you like an invalid daughter? It costs him valuable time. It costs the city valuable time. Do you really think he'd rather be pushing some invalid girl around in a wheelchair than finishing his shift so he could go out on a date or something once in a while? He's not married you know. He needs to have time for a life, too."**

**Liz wiped another tear from her eyes. "I didn't know I was being a burden to anyone. The sheriff is just being a good friend. I'll make sure that he doesn't spend too much 'valuable' city time with me."**

**"Well, Miss Parker, that might seem easy to you, but as long as you are here, he will always have to take care of you. As good public servants, we have to do that. So you will always be a burden. But don't take that wrong, Miss Parker. I feel sorry for you. I really do. I'm not blaming you. What happened to you is just unpleasant circumstance. No one could have foreseen it. You couldn't have stopped it. But you can do something now, Miss Parker… for yourself and for the Sheriff's benefit. He won't tell you this. But you know he'd like to."**

**Liz sniffed and wiped her cheek. Then she looked Judge Lewis in the eyes.**

**"Judge, with all due respect, what you're doing is feeding me a load of horse manure! You can try to make me feel bad about being dependent on others, but my heart tells me that I'm not as big a burden as you're pretending I am. And my heart tells me that I have friends here… real friends… not like you! So I would really just appreciate it if you would leave now. If you have anything else to say, I'm sure the Sheriff or my father would be interested in hearing it."**

**Judge Lewis flushed and stood up.**

**"Well, Miss Parker, I was trying to be kind to you. I could have you institutionalized. You've been through a lot. It's not unusual for people in your… situation… to require psychiatric help. There's a very good psychiatric hospital over in Arizona I could get you in to…"**

**"Judge, just leave! Please!"**

**"You're refusal to accept our charitable help, Miss Parker, could be construed by a court as evidence of your need for psychiatric help."**

**"Especially if you were the judge, right, Judge? I said leave! I even said please!"**

**"What's this," Judge Lewis asked, grabbing Liz's diary.**

**"Give me that back! That's mine! That's private! You can't take my diary! VERA! HELP ME! SHERIFF VALENTI! HELP! …Please. Give me back my diary."**

**Judge Lewis thumbed through several pages smiling, then he stuck the diary into his pocket.**

**"This should do nicely, Miss Parker. Very nicely."**

**As the judge turned around, something that felt like a sledgehammer slammed head on into his jaw, breaking it and laying him out flat on the ground. Liz looked up at her benefactor…**

**"Alex! Omigod, Alex!" **

**Sheriff Valenti was right beside Alex, and Vera was running across the grass from the fountains, where she had heard Liz screaming for help.**

**Alex shook his hand up and down several times. "Ow, that hurt." Then he smiled. "But it was worth it. Looked like you needed some help. I just happened to be in the neighborhood."**

**Liz took Alex's hand and pulled him down beside her then hugged him and started to cry. Sheriff Valenti saw Liz's diary fall out of Judge Lewis' pocket, and he picked it up and brushed it off.**

**"I think this is yours, Liz."**

**Liz nodded. "Thanks, Sheriff… Sheriff?"**

**"Yes?"**

**"Am I… Am I being a burden to you… or others… by staying here in Roswell?"**

**Sheriff Valenti looked at Judge Lewis, who was moaning as he regained consciousness, and suppressed an urge to kick him back into his more amenable unconscious state.**

**"Don't ever think that, Liz! No matter what anyone ever tells you. DO NOT EVER think that again! You're no burden to me or to anyone here. You're an inspiration to us. Some company possibly excluded," Jim said, looking at Judge Lewis.**

**"Sheriff!" Judge Lewis moaned.**

**"Can I help you up, Judge?"**

**"Sheriff, arrest this young man! He hit me! I think my jaw is broke!" Judge Lewis spit blood out into his hand, and two teeth fell into his hand with it. He appeared faint, as though he might pass out again.**

**"I'm afraid I can't do that, Judge," Jim said. "You just had a bad fall. You need to be looked at by a doctor."**

**"Arrest him first, Sheriff! He hit me!"**

**"Well, I didn't exactly see that, Judge. You turned around fast and tripped over my foot. I guess you hit your jaw on the pavement. I'm really sorry about my foot being in the way."**

**"It wasn't your foot, Jim! I know a foot from a fist! That boy hit me!"**

**"You're delusional right now, Judge. For your own safety, I'm going to have to have one of my deputies take you to a hospital for treatment. If you persist with this accusation, I'll have to tell the court that I witnessed it and you tripped over my foot… after stealing Miss Parker's diary and trying to flee with it."**

**Judge Lewis glared at Jim but said nothing. By now, his jaw was hurting so bad that he was asking Deputy Carter, who had just arrived, to take him to the hospital. Deputy Carter led him to his patrol car and put him in the back then drove off.**

**"Thank you, Sheriff. Thank you so much," Liz said sincerely. **

**"Yeah," Alex said, nodding… "for me, too. I thought you were going to have to lock me up."**

**Jim chuckled. "No… I've wanted to do that myself for years. You just lived out my fantasies for me."**

**"I feel bad about causing you to have to lie for me," Alex said.**

**"Shhh! It wasn't a complete lie, Alex. I did have my foot out, and Judge Lewis did fall over it… accidentally, of course. Anything else that might have hit him, too, even if it helped him fall over my foot, is irrelevant here, and I think we can just keep it to ourselves."**

**"Thanks, Sheriff."**

**"Don't mention it. Really."**

**                                        ************

**"Liz, will you be alright now," Alex asked, as he stood up and started to walk to the door of the Parkers' house above the CrashDown.**

**"Yeah. Thanks again, Alex! You don't know what it means to me to have friends like you and Kyle and the Sheriff. I just wish we could find Max, Maria and Isabel. That would be so great."**

**Alex nodded. "Yeah. That would be great, Liz. But I hope you won't get frustrated if, you know…"**

**"No, they're alive, Alex! I feel it! I saw Max, and I saw Maria in visions. I saw Max when I touched his ring, and Maria was trying to contact me. I think Isabel was helping her."**

**"Maybe you should try to contact her back, Liz. You probably have more chance of doing that than she does. Maria doesn't have any powers… unless…"**

**"Unless what?"**

**"Unless Max healed her after she was shot and she's starting to develop some. Liz, do you still have those orbs that Max had?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Well, Max and Michael always thought that the orbs might be some kind of communication devices. Why don't you try them… see if you can contact Maria?"**

**"Will you help me, Alex?"**

**"Yeah, I guess I can stay a while longer."**

**Liz rolled her chair into her room and returned with the orbs. "What do we do with them, Alex?" She held one orb and handed Alex the other one. Alex placed the orb to his ear and walked around the room, saying, "Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?"**

**Liz started to laugh. "Be serious, Alex."**

**"I made you laugh."**

**"Yeah," Liz nodded. "Thanks, Alex."**

**"Try putting them together," Alex suggested. Liz took both of the orbs and placed them beside each other. "What now?"**

**"I don't know. Maybe we need to touch them or something."**

**"Yeah, that would make sense," Liz said. She took Alex's hand and placed it on top of the two orbs, then she placed her hands on top of his. "I'm going to concentrate, Alex. I'm going to think about Maria."**

**"Is this going to be a long distance call, Liz… 'cause roaming charges can get pretty steep you know."**

**Liz giggled. "Alex, please. Be serious." **

**Liz closed her eyes and cleared her mind of everything but Maria. Alex did the same. As he did, there was a bright light. It didn't flash on; it just sort of grew until it looked like daylight. Then they both saw Maria. She was wearing some kind of exotic-looking swimsuit and walking out of a golden-colored ocean. Her hair hung down, wet, over her shoulders and back, but she looked beautiful… even if more than a few years older. **

**Liz and Alex approached Maria, and Liz waved her hands back and forth. "Maria, can you see me?" **

**"Can you see us," Alex repeated.**

**"What's got into you two," Maria said. "Of course I see you. You're standing right in front of me. I may have salt water in my eyes, but I haven't gone blind."**

**Liz and Alex both looked at the sand around them. They were indeed standing on the beach. Liz felt the breeze. She heard the low swish of the surf. She felt the warm sand under her feet and felt the salt water rushing over her feet… Her feet? She hadn't even realized until now that she was standing up… and her wheelchair was nowhere in sight.**

**"Omigod," Liz said, as reality began to set in. "Alex, where are we?"**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Liz and Alex meet Liz and Alex. Judge Lewis continues to try to get rid of Liz but is not prepared for the surprise he gets. Amy's misadventures continue to cause ripples on the army base… and in a place much further away. And the search is on for Maria and Isabel… and Max and Michael.**


	9. Dreams08

**NOTE:**

**The next two chapters (Chapters 8 and 9) are from The Four Faces Of Rath, so if you already read them there, you can read them here again or skip straight to chapter 10, which is an ALL-NEW TNTDD chapter. Of course, if you never read them in TFFOR, then they will be new chapters to you, and you will need to read them here to know what is happening. The reason I am including two chapters of TFFOR here is that they are as much a part of this story as they are part of that one, and they are important to understanding what is going on in this story. **

**The Night The Dreams Died, Chapter 8 (The Four Faces Of Rath, Chapter 56)**

**E.T. Call Home**

**Chapter 8**

**VIII **

**The young AVMTech at the Antar Space Field outside CoruzAntar knocked anxiously on the door of his supervisor's office. **

**"Enter! The door's open!"**

**"Sir! We are receiving a transmission from a ship that was lost seventy years ago. We have video and audio from the vessel."**

**The supervisor looked up, obviously interested. "Where is it? Do we know which vessel it is?"**

**"Yes, sir. A70932. It was lost 70 years ago on Eluymer, the planet Zan and Rath grew up on. It was one of the original ships sent there… part of the scouting mission sent to find a secure site for the pods and the granolith. After the primary ship crashed, two ships returned, and a fourth disappeared."**

**"Yes, I remember. It was always believed that it stayed on Eluymer, or 'Earth' as the Eluymerians call it, to try to rescue the crew of the crashed vessel and help to secure the… cargo. I guess we can say it now, the pods. It's no longer a secret… Kivar is only a bad memory now. No one from that ship ever returned, and they never contacted the home base again. After twenty years, it was all but taken for granted that the entire crew was lost due to some unknown tragedy."**

**"Yes, sir. Well, the E.T. came back on unexpectedly this morning. You will want to see the video and audio that have been intercepted from the ship since the telemetry began arriving again."**

**"Do you have it with you, Dak?"**

**"Yes, sir!" The young tech took a small crystal from his pocket and inserted it into a device on the supervisor's desk. A screen on the opposite wall came on. As they watched, the vessel's onboard camera, called an Emergency Telemetry Monitor, or E.T. for short, suddenly came to life; then, a second later, the door to the control room opened and someone walked in. It was a woman.**

**"Sir, I know this woman," the young tech said. "It's Varec's wife."**

**"The Eluymerian?" The supervisor seemed surprised. "Hmmm… yes, it does look like her… but this woman is younger than Varec's wife. And besides, I saw Varec and his wife only yesterday here in CoruzAntar. They were on their way to that Eluymerian 'Café,' the 'CrashDown,' to eat."**

**"It's a good restaurant, sir."**

**The supervisor nodded. "It's very popular with the younger people. I know older ones who like it, too, though. Dak, did you say that this signal just began coming in this morning?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Hmmm."**

**As they watched, the young woman looked up suddenly and stared directly into the tiny camera, which was no bigger than a small sunflower seed. The E.T. was attached magnetically to a wire-thin but unbendable bar that ran across the ceiling of the craft. The young woman reached up and removed the tiny camera from the bar… then, after examining it, she appeared to attach it to herself in some manner.**

**"I believe she has attached it to a ring on her finger, sir," the young tech said. The supervisor nodded.**

**For a time, the young woman sat in the pilot's seat, thinking… and occasionally looking around at the console and systems monitors. Then she appeared to be about to leave, but as she stood up, she stopped again suddenly.**

**"Why did she stop," the supervisor asked.**

**"You'll see in just a moment, sir. Here it is now."**

**The young woman moved her hand, and the two men saw that six armed soldiers were pointing weapons at her. The supervisor gasped.**

**"Eluymerian soldiers! …in charge of our craft! Where is our crew? Who is this woman?"**

**The young tech shook his head. "Not certain, sir. She does look very much like Varec's wife to me, though, sir. It is possible, given the evidence seen here, that the Eluymerians also have our crew. If that is the case, I would not be overly optimistic about their survival after seventy years, sir."**

**The supervisor shook his head sadly. "I'm afraid I have to agree with you, Dak."**

**As Dak and his supervisor watched, the young woman made an oddly nonchalant remark; by all appearances, seeming to take the danger she was in much too lightly…**

**"I must have taken a wrong turn off of 285. Imagine that! I'll just be on my way if you gentlemen will move aside."**

**The supervisor looked at Dak questioningly. "What is 285, Dak?" **

**"I don't know, sir. By their reaction, I believe that she is being insincere with them… possibly offering an explanation for why she is there."**

**The supervisor nodded. "Yes, and she believes that they will allow her to leave, but it appears that this is a misconception on her part." **

**At that moment, another soldier, one who appeared to have a higher ranking, showed up and stood between the young woman and the six men with guns. "General Hawkins wants to see you… Now!"**

**The young woman replied in a facetious tone that both the supervisor and Dak understood readily, "Well, really guys, I don't think the General and I hit it off so well the last time we were together. That was kind of a relationship that just wasn't meant to be, you know what I mean? If you'll just tell the General that for me, I'm sure he'll understand, and…"**

**The young soldier with the higher rank stepped out of the way, and the weapons all went to ready.**

**"Okay, okay. I'm going! But I'm telling you, this is not my idea of a good time. The General needs to find a girl who's more into S&M. I'm more plain vanilla… Okay, maybe raspberry, really, I guess, but…"**

**"Move it!" the young soldier with the higher rank said in an annoyed tone. "And shut up."**

**The soldiers forced the young woman to walk a considerable distance down several long halls until they came to an office, which appeared to be their final destination. The one with the higher rank opened the door and they all went in, forcing the young woman to enter ahead of them. The soldiers kept their weapons pointed at the young woman as she went in. Inside, there was a man seated behind a desk. He appeared to be someone of importance as far as the soldiers were concerned. Even the young soldier with the higher rank showed deference to him.**

**"Mrs. DeLuca," the man behind the desk said, in a very annoyed tone, "You have done what no one else has ever managed to do in all the years I have been in the military. You have made me look like a complete fool."**

**The young woman shrugged. "It was nothing, sir, really."**

**The supervisor looked at Dak and smiled. "I think I like her, Dak. She has sh'mys. She appears not to like this man, and he has an air of pompousness to him that I find distasteful."**

**"Yes, sir," the young Tech said. "I agree, sir."**

**"Mrs. DeLuca, what am I going to do with you?" the pompous-looking man behind the desk asked.**

**"Well, sir, I tried to tell these boys that it just wasn't going to work out between us. I'm really not looking for the Romeo and Juliet thing right now, you know…"**

**"Romeo and Juliet wasn't what I had in mind, Mrs. DeLuca. I was thinking more along the lines of Henry the eighth."**

**The supervisor reached up and stopped the playback momentarily.**

**"Dak… Isn't DeLuca the name of Varec's wife?"**

**"I believe so, sir. She uses two names, like most Eluymerians. Her full unmarried name was Amy DeLuca."**

**"But how can this woman be Varec's wife if this transmission came from Eluymer today, and I saw Varec's wife here only yesterday?"**

**"Maybe she went to Eluymer with the sphere that Zan uses," the young tech said.**

**"Yes, that's possible, I guess," the supervisor agreed. "But still, this woman is years younger than Varec's wife, wouldn't you agree?"**

**"Um, yes, sir. It would appear so, sir. I can't explain it."**

**The supervisor replayed the last two lines of the transmission.**

**"Well, sir, I tried to tell these boys that it just wasn't going to work out between us. I'm really not looking for the Romeo and Juliet thing right now, you know…"**

**"Romeo and Juliet wasn't what I had in mind, Mrs. DeLuca. I was thinking more along the lines of Henry the eighth."**

**"Do you know who this Romeo and Juliet are that she is referring to, Dak… or the Henry the eighth that he is referring to? It could be important."**

**"Yes, sir," the tech said. "Actually, I saw something only a few days ago about them on the Eluymer channel… the virtual link that Varec established to the Eluymerian's cable system. Romeo and Juliet were two young lovers, barely teenagers, who were not allowed to be together. He killed himself because he believed that she had died, but she had not. When she saw that he had killed himself, she killed herself, too."**

**The supervisor seemed perplexed. "Do you think this young woman, DeLuca, intends to kill herself? These people are so strange. I do not always understand them."**

**"I believe… sir… that she is probably referring to her relationship with the pompous one in the chair. She means that he is her Romeo and she is his Juliet… romantically."**

**"You cannot mean that, Dak."**

**"Well… perhaps she was being facetious, sir. I believe she did say that being Romeo and Juliet with him was NOT her desire, not that it WAS her desire."**

**"I'm sure that is what she meant, Dak. It is obvious that she does not like the man. Who is this Henry the eighth that he compared himself to?"**

**"Henry the eighth was a king on Eluymer who had many of his wives executed. Their heads were cut off."**

**"So he is threatening her by comparing himself to this king?"**

**"Yes, I believe so, sir. I believe that is her impression, too, based on her reaction."**

**"Play the rest, Dak."**

**The young tech started the sequence again from where it had left off. **

**"You wouldn't do anything to me, General. Too many people know where I am," the young woman said.**

**The pompous man shook his head. "Your car was seen driving off the base about three hours ago. It went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass. That was a drop of about 700 feet, I believe. I understand it was a very fiery crash. The sheriff of Copper City is on the site now, but no remains have been found. The fire was so intense, you know…" **

**"Dak, I believe this woman is in danger. Even I understood that to be a threat."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"You can't just get rid of me, General…" the young woman said.**

**The pompous man smiled and nodded, indicating that he believed that he could. "Corporal, take Mrs. DeLuca away… and make sure that her departure is permanent."**

**"Permanent, sir?"**

**"Permanent, Corporal. You heard me." **

**The young woman held up her ring. "General, do you know what this is?"**

**"A ring? You think I'm worried about your husband? You don't have one, Mrs. DeLuca. Don't you think I know that? And if you did, it wouldn't matter."**

**The young woman detached the tiny E.T. and held it in her hand. "Not the ring, General, the camera."**

**"Let me see that!" the pompous officer said, the smile on his face quickly fading away.**

**The corporal took it from Amy's hand and handed it to the General. He turned it over several times. "Where did you get this?"**

**"From the TV station," the young woman said, obviously lying. "Everything going on here is being recorded by all three local networks… and by now probably by CNN and Fox, too."**

**"I don't believe you."**

**"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not."**

**The pompous man swallowed, and there was a long pause. **

**"Corporal!" the pompous man said at end.**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**"Didn't you hear me? Escort Mrs. DeLuca off the base, and make sure that she stays away from here permanently this time. You got that?"**

**"Just off the base, sir?"**

**"Of course, just off the base! What did you think I meant?"**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"Oh, and Mrs. DeLuca… I was trying to make a point with you about how dangerous it can be for a civilian to be running around out here unaccompanied. I wouldn't want you to get hurt."**

**"Of course not," the young woman said. "What about my car?"**

**"It was damaged, Mrs. DeLuca. It was unsafe to drive… and since it was on the base, it was our obligation to dispose of it in a safe manner. As I told you, it was being towed to a recycling plant, but it broke loose on the pass and went over the side. Fortunately, no one was in it, so there was no one hurt in the accident."**

**"That car was my only means of transportation."**

**The pompous man seemed to be making a forced effort to smile. "I'll see if we can find you a replacement, Mrs. DeLuca. The Army wasn't responsible for what happened to your car, you know. The damage to your car was your own fault. We had to dispose of it responsibly. But I'm sure Washington would not want to make a big deal out of this. I'll get you a new car."**

**"New?"**

**"New," the pompous man muttered. "Corporal!" **

**"Yes, sir!" **

**The General pointed at the door. **

**After the soldiers had taken the young woman away, the General continued to examine the tiny monitor.**

**"Lieutenant!" **

**"Yes, sir!" **

**"Have you ever seen anything like this?"**

**"Looks like a spy camera, sir."**

**"I know what it looks like, lieutenant. Have you ever seen one like this one?"**

**"Well… not this small, sir. But they're making them smaller every day."**

**"Hmmm, yes, but I'm usually kept abreast of developments that might be useful to me. Lieutenant, how did the DeLuca woman get into the craft?"**

**"The bottom hatch was left open, sir. The crew trying to get into the control room was planning to return later today to try again with a new type of torch."**

**"But the DeLuca woman got into the control room, lieutenant. I want to know how!"**

**"We don't know how, sir. After she came back out, the door closed again."**

**"And it didn't occur to any of you to put something there to jam it or station someone inside the control room while the door was open?"**

**"Uh, no sir. How would someone inside get back out after the door closed?"**

**"I don't know, lieutenant! I don't care! Maybe there's a door handle inside!"**

**"I don't think so, sir."**

**"Lieutenant, we've had this craft in our hangar for sixty years… give or take a few years… and no one, ever, has been able to find so much as a seam or a rivet anywhere on the craft. We can't dismantle it. No one has ever been able to get into the control room. No torch or blaster will melt or penetrate the metal… or whatever the hell it is the thing's made of. It has frustrated every effort we have made to open the control room or dismantle the ship for SIXTY DAMN YEARS! And that woman just goes in and, open-sesame! The door opens for her?"**

**"It seems that way, sir."**

**"Find out why! I want someone watching that woman twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I don't want her to go to the bathroom without someone knowing where she is. You got that?"**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**"Good. I'm surprised she didn't ask you idiots if there was a key and fly the thing away under your noses! Get out of here. Oh, and lieutenant…"**

**"Sir?"**

**"Find out who makes these tiny spycams. I need some. And find out why I wasn't advised of their development. I don't like having local TV networks using equipment that I didn't even know existed."**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**The General put the tiny monitor into a desk drawer and closed the drawer. With no light or sound reaching it any more, the little camera cut itself off. The supervisor and Dak both knew that it could come back on at any time, though, if the General should decide to take it out of his drawer again at some future time.**

**"Dak, I think Zan and Rath need to see this. I'm going to take it to them right now. Continue monitoring the transmissions in case the pompous Eluymerian general takes our monitoring device back out of his drawer."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**                                     ************

**At the palace, Max and Liz huddled in front of the VidScreen with Alex and Isabel, as the supervisor from the spaceport watched from behind them. Max turned the VidScreen off and removed the small crystal, then he handed it to the supervisor.**

**"You were right, Kesvyn. This is important."**

**"I thought you would want to know about it immediately, Zan. The fact that an Antarian craft… and possibly Antarian crewmen… are being held by Eluymerian soldiers… Then there is also the danger to the young woman, though it would seem that she was able to talk her way out of being executed… for now at least. Dak and I were thinking that this young woman looks very much like Varec's wife."**

**Max nodded. "It is Varec's wife, Kesvyn."**

**"But I saw her with Varec only yesterday, Zan. They were on their way to the CrashDown."**

**"The young woman in the transmission is Amy DeLuca," Max said. "But not the Amy we know here on Antar. I'm not entirely sure what is going on, Kesvyn. We may be receiving transmissions from the past…"**

**"Or from another dimension…" Alex offered.**

**Max nodded. "We don't have any experience with dimensional theory or travel. We've never proven that alternate dimensions even exist… or that they don't exist, of course. But we have had experience with traveling to the past."**

**"If this was from a past timeline," Alex said, "Amy would remember this happening to her… and she would have mentioned it, don't you think?"**

**Max nodded. "It would seem so, Alex. "What is the difference between a timeline and a dimension anyway?"**

**"A timeline is a branch or alteration of the existing past," Liz said. "It can change, depending on the factors that affect and shape it. But only one timeline can exist at a time. Once a part of a timeline is changed, the entire timeline is changed. It's like going back and killing your grandfather… You would never be born, and the entire timeline would be changed. On the other hand, theoretically, at least, there could be any number of dimensions all existing at the same time, and each dimension could have its own progression of events. Dimensions wouldn't have to be the same. In an alternate dimension, for instance, your dupes from New York might be living here on Antar now, and the Antarian scientists might not have ever created another set… so you might not exist. Or Kivar might still control Antar. There could be any number of possibilities. Max and Tess could be married…"**

**Max threw a pillow playfully at Liz. "Some things were meant to be, Liz, and some things never were. I don't see that happening in any dimension!"**

**"Wasn't Zan married to Ava in the past that Michael went back to," Liz asked. "You know, the older Zan and Ava? Michael said they were quite happy together."**

**"Yeah, they were," Max agreed. "But they were an extension of the past… In that timeline, we were never killed, so we never went to Earth and never met you and Maria… The older me and Rath and Ava were kind of like… us before there was us, you know… or us if there never was an us."**

**"That's true."**

**"Believe me, Liz," Max said. "There's only one girl for me in any dimension."**

**"That remains to be seen, Max. But I like it that you think so." Liz leaned over and kissed Max, which to Max's embarrassment, seemed to have the approval of everyone in the room, judging by the smiles and applause, especially from Alex. **

**"Just wait, Alex. I'll catch you and Isabel all wrapped up together sometime. Payback is coming."**

**Isabel looked at Alex and grinned. **

**"Uh, moving right along here," Alex said…**

**"Well, the question, as I see it," Max said… "is what are we going to do with this information? And there's something else that may possibly be involved here. I don't know if it's related, but Maya has had dreams… or perhaps visions… recently of something unexplainable going on. Maya saw Liz in a wheelchair, and she said that she thought her mother looked younger… like a teenager. She said that she saw someone shoot Liz from a tree, but then Jim Valenti chopped the tree down, and when she looked again, Liz was not shot. Then a couple of days later, Maya saw me in a coffin, and she said I looked younger, too."**

**"It could be related, Max," Liz agreed. "You and I were younger in Maya's visions, and Amy is younger in this transmission…"**

**"But the transmission was sent today," Kesvyn said.**

**"Yeah, Alex nodded, "but if we're picking up some kind of vibes from, like, an alternate dimension or something, maybe we're all still younger there… like Liz said… We wouldn't have to be the same."**

**"That could be," Max agreed. "But then the thought occurs to me that maybe it might be wrong for us to interfere at all in another dimension's… progression… or whatever. You know what I mean?"**

**"What?" Isabel said… "You mean if Liz was going to be killed, you wouldn't want to save her, Max?"**

**"No, I didn't say that, Iz. I'd want to… You know that. I just don't know if I should."**

**"But would you?" Isabel asked.**

**Max looked at Liz and sighed. "Yeah, I guess I'd have to defend Liz in any dimension. I just couldn't not protect her, you know?"**

**"But maybe I'm supposed to die in that other dimension, Max," Liz said. "Then you would be changing what was supposed to be."**

**"Well, that's assuming you subscribe to the theory that something is 'supposed' to go a certain way," Max said. "What if it's all random… just what we make it? If I saw you about to be harmed here, Liz, I'd protect you. What's the difference? If it's right for me to intervene in this dimension can it be wrong somewhere else? If I wasn't around and something was going to happen to you and someone from another dimension saved you, I'd be thankful! I wouldn't question what was supposed to be, because I don't believe in destiny."**

**"Like us being together?" Liz asked.**

**"Well, sure, that's… I believe in that," Max said. But that's a destiny that I made… that we made… together. It didn't just happen without our help. We had to put something into it."**

**"That's true," Liz said. "Future Max tried to change our destiny once."**

**"And he screwed it up for all of us," Alex reminded Liz… until Max and Michael fixed it."**

**"But he did it," Max said. "And we did it again… by changing it back. 'Meant to be' and 'Destiny' are real… but they're what we make them. If something works out well, we say that it was meant to be. If it works out badly, we say that it wasn't meant to be. It refers to the 'rightness' of something. But that doesn't make things happen. Only we can affect our destinies.**

**Max looked up to see Kyle standing there.**

**"Max, you've got visitors."**

**"Who is it, Kyle?"**

**"I think you'd better see for yourself."**

**Kyle turned and motioned to someone to come in. Michael and Maria walked through the door… and there were two other people with them. **

**Max, Liz, Alex, Isabel, and the spaceport supervisor, Kesvyn, all stood up as the guests entered. Their mouths were open far enough that they could have been shouting, but no words seemed to come out.**

**"Alex Whitman and Liz… uh… Evans…" Kyle said with a wry grin, obviously loving their reactions… "I want you to meet Alex Whitman and Liz Parker." **

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Max and Liz's "guests," Alex and Liz, are overwhelmed by the palace and Antar and unsure what has happened to them. Max and the others realize that there no longer is a moral argument or question about helping them. The questions now become merely when and how… and what to do with… well, another Alex and Liz.**


	10. Dreams09

**The Night The Dreams Died, Chapter 9 (The Four Faces Of Rath, Chapter 57)**

**(See note at start of Chapter 8)**

**Alex And Liz In Wonderland**

**Chapter 9**

**IX**

**Max, Liz, Alex, Isabel, and Spaceport Director, Kesvyn had been watching the transmissions received from the lost Antarian space ship and discussing dimensional theories when Kyle walked in with a broad smile on his face. Max knew instantly that whatever Kyle had to tell them, it was probably going to be interesting, but even he could not have guessed what Kyle was grinning about.**

**"You've got visitors, Max." **

**"Who is it, Kyle?"**

**"I think you'd better see for yourself."**

**Kyle turned and motioned to someone to come in, and Michael and Maria walked through the door followed by two other people. **

**Max stood up, and his mouth opened, but he found himself momentarily at a loss for words. He looked at Liz, who was standing beside him… then at Alex. If Max appeared to be shocked, though, Liz and Alex's reactions were of stunned disbelief. **

**"Alex Whitman and Liz… uh… Evans…" Kyle said with a wry grin, obviously loving the reactions the new arrivals had elicited from his friends… "I want you to meet Alex Whitman and Liz Parker." **

**For several moments, there was only silence. The younger Liz and Alex stared in awe at the walls, the ceilings, the floors, and the decorations of the palace… then they looked at the two people standing in front of them. These people appeared to be a few years older… but there was no doubting who they were. **

**"Oh… Oh! I'm so sorry," Liz Evans said, suddenly realizing that someone needed to say something. "I uh, I guess we must all seem like idiots standing here with our mouths hanging open. It's just that… that…"**

**"Hello," Liz Parker said, extending her hand politely and swallowing. Liz Evans took Liz Parker's hand and shook it… and both smiled.**

**"Something tells me we've got a very interesting evening ahead of us," Liz Evans said. "Why don't you two have a seat and make yourselves… at home. We aren't usually so unsocial. We're just all kind of in shock right now."**

**Liz Parker nodded. "Yeah, I'm right in there with you. Are you… Are you…?"**

**Liz Evans nodded. "Yeah… I guess I'm you. It looks like it anyway… And I presume you would be Alex Whitman," she said, extending her hand to the younger Alex.**

**Still at a loss for words, Alex nodded and took her hand. **

**"I guess this is your, uh… doppelganger, or something," Liz Evans said, indicating the older Alex. "This is his wife, Isabel… and this is my husband, Max… or King Zan, as he insists I call him."**

**Alex looked at Max in surprise. **

**"She's kidding," Max said. **

**Liz giggled. "Well, he is the king… but since I'm married to him, he usually lets me just call him 'Your Majesty,'" she said, giving the younger couple a wink.**

**Realizing that she was trying to break the ice and make them feel more at ease, the younger Alex and Liz seemed to relax a bit, and they smiled.**

**"Should I… uh… call you… King Zan or Your Majesty," Alex asked hesitantly.**

**"Yeah, those will do," Max said with a trace of a smile. Liz slapped him playfully on the arm.**

**"You can call him Max… and you can call me Liz. That's Isabel and Alex over there, as I said before… and this is Kesvyn. Kesvyn's the Director of the Spaceport… and our friend. It appears that you've already met Michael and Maria.**

**"Hi," the younger Alex said, raising his hand. Liz Parker smiled and added a "Hi" of her own.**

**"Sit down," Max said, pointing at a sofa. "That's a royal order."**

**Liz and Alex sat down together on the sofa.**

**"I guess the first thing we… the first thing I need to know," Max said "…is how you got here. The second thing would be where you came from?"**

**"We're not sure," Alex said sincerely. "Liz had these orbs, and we wanted to contact Maria, because she's been missing, and instead of contacting Maria, we wound up here."**

**"Well, actually, we did find Maria," Liz corrected, gesturing toward Michael and Maria. "We were transported to a beach where Maria was… only it wasn't our Maria. I mean, it is Maria but… you know…"**

**Max and Liz Evans both nodded. "The orbs seem to have powers that we still have not discovered," Max said. "We know they can be used for communication… and in some cases, for healing. And now, it appears that you were able to transport yourselves here to Antar with them."**

**"Antar…" Alex repeated, incredulous. Hearing it still made him shake his head in disbelief. "How did we get all the way across the galaxy to some planet with an ocean that looks like… lite beer? And what are you doing here, Max?"**

**"I live here," Max said. "It's my planet."**

**"Well, yeah, I know that," Alex said. "But when we left Earth, you were missing…"**

**"Wait, you said that Maria was missing," Liz said.**

**Alex nodded. "Well, you see, Maria, Michael, Isabel, and Max were shot by these Army sharpshooters. Liz was, too. The Army claimed the sharpshooters were drunk and acting on their own, but we never believed it."**

**"When did this happen," Liz Evans asked.**

**"At graduation," Liz Parker said. **

**Liz Evans put her hand over her mouth and gasped, remembering her own premonitions and the close call she and the others had had at their own graduation. **

**"And the others… Are they…?" **

**"Supposedly dead," Liz Parker answered.**

**"They were dead," Alex insisted. "I was there. I saw them. Well, Isabel and Maria were dead anyway. Michael and Max escaped on Michael's bike. They were shot as they escaped and were found dead at the edge of town where the bike crashed."**

**"Found by the Army or FBI, I assume," the older Alex said.**

**The younger Alex nodded. "There were funerals for all of them, but just the other day, Sheriff Valenti opened the graves and found out that the bodies in the coffins were dummies… made out of latex and paraffin. And Liz had a vision of Maria trying to contact her."**

**"Maria?" Liz repeated, surprised, looking at Maria and Michael. Michael shrugged.**

**"Well," the younger Liz said, "Maria did say something about Isabel needing to help her."**

**"Why didn't Isabel do it herself," Liz Evans asked. "Isabel could have dreamwalked you."**

**"I don't know," Liz Parker replied.**

**"I must have been injured," Isabel said, placing herself in the place of the younger Isabel. "I'm sure that I would have dreamwalked you if I had been able to and if Maria needed help. Do you know where they were when she tried to contact you?"**

**Liz Parker shook her head. "I think they're on the Army base somewhere."**

**Max paled visibly. "I hope not," he said, remembering his own experiences in the White Room.**

**"Alex said you were shot, too, Liz," Isabel said. "I take it, you weren't seriously hurt?" **

**"She was shot in the head and spine," Alex answered for her. "Liz was in a coma for over four months. No one knew if she would survive. Since she came out of the coma, she's been paralyzed."**

**"Omigod! The visions Maya's been having!" Liz Evans exclaimed. "Maya saw a young woman who looked like me in a wheelchair, and she thought she was in some kind of danger. She said that a man in a tree wanted to shoot her, but Jim Valenti cut the tree down and chased the bad man off."**

**"Yeah! That really happened!" Liz Parker said. "I knew Sheriff Valenti had that chainsaw in his hand for a reason! He said that he confiscated it from some illegal loggers in the park. He's been protecting me. He won't say so, but I know it." **

**Liz suddenly realized that, for someone who was supposedly paralyzed, she looked the picture of good health.**

**"Oh! Yeah, I know… I'm standing up… I really was in a wheelchair, though. I don't know what happened. When Alex and I used the orbs and we appeared here, I wasn't paralyzed anymore. Do you think the orbs could have healed me?"**

**Max nodded then slowly shook his head. "The orbs probably didn't heal you. They teleported your essence here and reassembled you the way your DNA says that you are supposed to be assembled."**

**"So… if I go back… I'll still be paralyzed?"**

**"Maybe," Max said. "Or maybe not."**

**"You could heal her, Max," Maria said.**

**Max nodded. "If there was anything wrong with her, I could… but there's nothing wrong with her now. The orbs reassembled her perfectly. The question is, when she goes back, will she be reassembled according to her DNA plan or the way the orbs found her? And why didn't the orbs reassemble her the way they found her when they brought her here? There's a lot that we don't know about the orbs." **

**"You could check her out, Max," the older Alex said. "Maybe you could tell something."**

**Max stood up and walked over to Liz then placed his hands on her back. As he stood there, the others noticed that his face showed surprise at first, then concern. Max felt Liz's arms then picked her wrist up and checked for the pulse. Then he picked up Alex's wrist and checked for his pulse. Finally, Max sat back down.**

**"You gonna tell us what that was all about, Max?" the older Alex asked.**

**"What do you mean," Max said.**

**"I mean that look on your face. Something wasn't what you were expecting. Even I could see that."**

**"I don't know," Max said, shaking his head. "I'm not a doctor or a scientist. I'm probably not qualified to speculate."**

**"You're all we've got, Max," Isabel said. "Varec's not here. Speculate!"**

**"What is it?" the younger Liz asked.**

**Max sighed. "You don't have a pulse or a heartbeat… Neither of you do."**

**Alex picked up his left hand with his right hand and felt for a pulse, then he tried to feel the pulse in the carotid artery in his neck. "There's gotta be a pulse, Max. We wouldn't be alive if there was no pulse. You can't live with no heartbeat… Can you?"**

**"Not that I know of," Max said.**

**Not finding his own pulse, Alex felt Liz's wrist. Then he looked at Max. "Oh, sh*t! I think we're dead!"**

**"You're not dead," Max said. "I don't understand what's going on, but I can vouch that you're definitely alive… heartbeat or not." **

**"How can they not have a heartbeat and still be alive," Isabel asked. "Maybe you just couldn't feel it, Max."**

**"No, No… Wait…" Michael said, thinking. "Suppose they aren't really here."**

**"Of course they're here," Isabel said. "You see them. I see them. They're sitting right there on the sofa." Isabel touched the younger Alex and Liz on the arm and face. "They're here," Michael. You can't feel a ghost. I can feel Liz and Alex. They're as real as you and me!"**

**"Maybe not," Michael said. "Well, yes and no, actually. Suppose that the orbs reassembled a duplicate set… a copy… of them here, but the original set is still on Earth."**

**"That's ridiculous," Isabel said. "You don't make copies of people. Human minds can barely think for one body. I don't mean that as an insult, but humans don't even have special powers… Their minds certainly aren't developed enough to control two bodies at once."**

**"Maybe they don't have to," Michael said. "Suppose their real bodies back on Earth are, like, in a coma or something, but their minds are here… sort of taking a vacation… in these other bodies."**

**"Michael, you need help." Isabel said. **

**"Don't mind Michael," she said to the younger Alex, adding with a tone of sarcasm, "He's just swallowed too much of our 'Lite Beer' Sea lately! I thought it looked like the beach was getting bigger!"**

**"No, No, Isabel," Max said. "It makes sense really. Think about it. The orbs could transport a DNA pattern and a memory core much more easily and efficiently than they could two whole human bodies. Michael may just have something there."**

**"Uh, guys," the younger Alex interrupted. "I hate to just butt in here, but since we're talking about Liz and me, could somebody tell us what this all means?"**

**"I wish I could, Alex," Max said. "If Michael is right, though… and we really aren't certain about that… It's only a theory… then your real bodies could still be on Earth, probably lying comatose where you left them, waiting for your return."**

**"Yeah," Michael said… "So enjoy these while you have them, 'cause they may be disposables. They may just be on loan for your holiday, so use 'em and abuse 'em. Have some fun!"**

**"Michael!" Isabel exclaimed.  **

**"Just kidding, Iz! Don't get in a frit!"**

**"Talk about tiny minds," Isabel fumed.**

**"Okay, I get it," the younger Alex said, "but wouldn't I still have to have a heartbeat… and be breathing," he added, holding his hand under his nose.**

**"I would have thought so," Max said. "But it's possible that your bodies back on Earth are breathing and beating for you, and these bodies are… are… well, I hate to use Michael's term, but… disposables… You know, just temporary for the time you're here."**

**"So… what happens if we're still here when the expiration date… or the warranty… runs out?" Alex asked.**

**Isabel shook her head. "You see! You see what you guys did?"**

**"Well, it's a reasonable question, Iz," Michael said.**

**"Oh!" Isabel huffed, waving her hand. "Alex, if the orbs brought you… that is, your essences or whatever… here and created some kind of temporary bodies for them… I'm sure that when these bodies… when they… when they… you know…"**

**"Say it, Isabel," Michael said, with an 'I-told-you-so' grin. "Say 'expire.'"**

**"I was going to say, when they are no longer needed…" Isabel said. "You will be returned to your regular bodies on Earth."**

**"Maybe you're all being concerned needlessly," Max said to Michael and Isabel as well as to the younger Alex and Liz. "I think it's likely that the bodies you have now will last as long as they're needed… however long that may be. The orbs aren't limited by our conceptions or limitations. These bodies could have unlimited life spans… at least they may last as long as your real bodies on Earth still survive to support them."**

**"That makes sense," Michael said. Isabel nodded.**

**"These bodies have fewer moving parts," Michael said, "so maybe they won't wear out as fast." **

**"Michael!" Isabel exclaimed, glaring at him again.**

**"What?"**

**"Okay, Liz Evans said. "If that's out of the way, can we move on to something else here? Liz… Oh, Wow! It's hard to address myself by my own name! I feel like I'm looking in a mirror talking to myself and somebody needs to lock me up!"**

**Everyone laughed.**

**Liz tried again. "Liz… Maya said that she saw Max in one of her visions, and he was in a box… a coffin, I think, and he fell out. Do you know what that was about?"**

**Liz Parker nodded. "When Sheriff Valenti wanted to open the coffins and he already had Max's dug up, Judge Lewis showed up and blocked him with a cease and desist order, but Kyle pulled on the ropes holding the coffin up, and the coffin fell and broke open. That's when the fake body rolled out."**

**"That must be what Maya saw," Liz Evans said.**

**"I had visions, too, Liz Parker said. "I saw your Golden Sea… Oh, and Alex, it's salt water, not lite beer."**

**"Damn, now you tell me… after I came all the way across the galaxy to get here!"**

**Everyone laughed again.**

**"And I know the names of all your children," Liz Parker said.**

**Liz Evans seemed shocked by this information. "You know their names?"**

**Liz Parker nodded. "I thought I was seeing my own future or something and they were my children. I felt like I was right here sometimes."**

**"You must have been seeing through Maya," Liz Evans said. "Her ability to see and communicate across the universe sometimes seems to leave her open to a sort of back flow of information. Some of the Antarians Too said that they had had occasional brief flashes of Antar, too."**

**"After we found out that the body in Max's grave was a fake… and that the others were all fakes too…" Liz Parker said, "we started wondering where the real bodies were. We're pretty sure they were taken to the Army base. I had a flash of Max calling me when I touched his ring. And later I had the vision of Maria asking for our help… so I believe that all of them could still be alive. But I think they're in danger, and one or more of them may possibly be badly hurt. I haven't been able to make a move without Judge Lewis showing up and trying to stop me or convince me that I should leave Roswell or that I should allow myself to be committed to an insane asylum he wants to send me to somewhere in Arizona."**

**"Judge Lewis," the older Alex mumbled. "A real friend he turned out to be!"**

**Kyle, standing beside Alex, nodded. "I seem to remember saying those exact words to Dad once… exactly! When Judge Lewis had Dad fired."**

**"So is anyone looking for Max and Maria… and Michael and Isabel…" Liz Evans asked.**

**"The Sheriff has been helping all he could. And I think Amy went to the base to try to find Maria herself. When we left, she still hadn't come back."**

**Max winced. "I hope that's not because of what my worst fears are suggesting. I know Amy. She won't give up. They'll have to shoot her to stop her… and they will."**

**"Mom would give them a fight," Maria said. "She wouldn't go down easy. She may not look formidable, but you have to know Mom. She probably could take on that whole base by herself… if the right incentive was there."**

**"To find you?" Isabel asked.**

**Maria nodded. "Yeah… to find me. I hope she's okay."**

**"I'm sure she is," Michael said soothingly. "We probably should be worrying more about the poor soldiers she meets up with."**

**Maria laughed and nodded, but deep inside, she was worried about Amy, even knowing that this Amy was not the mother that she knew here on Antar… and that if anything happened to this Amy it would not affect her mother here in any way. **

**"Do you have saber tooth tigers here," Liz Parker asked out of the blue.**

**Liz Evans laughed. "You saw Jim's pawgor? That must have given you a pause!"**

**Liz Parker smiled. "I saw a saber tooth tiger playing with a little boy."**

**"That would be Danyy," Liz Evans said. "Danyy is Jim and Kathleen's son. He can talk to animals."**

**"Jim and Kathleen?" Liz Parker asked. **

**Liz Evans nodded. "Kathleen Topolsky." **

**Liz Parker looked shocked. "Topolsky? Here? She's working against us! Topolsky is FBI!"**

**"She was," Liz Evans said. "She's not anymore… ours isn't anyway. Kathleen was betrayed by her own people and locked up and tortured for a long time after she tried to help us. They made up a story that she had been killed in a fire at an insane asylum…"**

**"Like Judge Lewis wants to put me in," Liz Parker said. **

**Liz Evans shuddered involuntarily, wondering if it could be a coincidence. "Don't let him do that," she said to the younger Liz. "Fight it!"**

**Liz Parker nodded. "I always thought that the Sheriff would marry Amy DeLuca. They seemed to have a thing for each other."**

**"Well, our Jim married Kathleen," Isabel said. "And Amy married Varec, a young Antarian scientist. Both of them could not be happier. But if you're from an alternate dimension, as we think you may be, then there's no guarantee that things will happen the same way with your Jim and Amy. They could wind up marrying each other."**

**Liz Parker smiled. "I have this feeling about that."**

**A staff person came into the room and whispered to Liz Evans, and Liz nodded then stood up.**

**"Dinner is ready. If everyone would like to head for the dining room, we can continue this conversation there." Turning to Max, she added, "After we eat, I'd like to take Liz to Kyyks and get her something to wear. We don't know how long they may be here. Would you like to come, too, Alex?"**

**"Uh, well… yeah, sure, I guess."**

**"Or I could take you out to Jim's place to see his pawgor," the older Alex said.**

**Alex brightened then looked at Liz Parker.**

**"No… that's okay. I'll stay with Liz. I probably should get another shirt and some pants so I don't have to wear the same ones all the time. Maybe we can go see the paguar together later. We really need to get back to Earth as soon as possible, though… if we can figure out how to do that. The others still need us."**

**The older Alex smiled understandingly. "It's called a Pawgor," he said, correcting his younger self's pronunciation. **

**Max pulled out seats for Liz Parker and for his wife, and both sat down at the table.**

**"you've got to be twice the gentleman today, huh, Max," Liz said with a smile. "It's good for you."**

**Max smiled but didn't reply.**

**"This looks really good," Alex said, looking longingly at the food on his plate and the bowls of other foods set out to choose from. "It smells good, too! For some reason, I'm really starved."**

**"Me, too," Liz agreed.**

**"Are your bodies made to eat," Michael asked. "I mean, you don't breathe or have a heartbeat. Can you… you know?"**

**Isabel's head sank slowly down onto the table, and she covered her face with her hands and moaned. **

**Alex looked at the piece of yegg steak on his fork and slowly put it back down. **

**Liz seemed unsure what to do with her food. "Uh, can I be excused for a moment? I… I really need to… I think I forgot to wash my hands."**

**"Right down the hall on the left," Isabel said without raising her head. "You'll see it."**

**"Thanks," Liz said, standing up and leaving the table.**

**"Michael," Isabel mumbled under her breath, "If the end of this day arrives… and you're still alive, it'll be a frikkin' miracle."**

**"Well, it's something they needed to know," Michael said. "I wouldn't want them to blow up like balloons and burst or something. I'd never forgive myself."**

**"You need to worry more about me forgiving you, Michael. Your life in the immediate future depends on it… and right now… it's not looking good. You've passed critical, you're already on life support!"**

**Liz returned to the table and sat back down then looked at Alex and smiled.**

**"Is everything… alright," Alex asked hesitantly.**

**Liz nodded and picked up her fork, taking a big bite of the grelliats on her plate. "Mmmmmm… This is soooo good!" **

**That was all Alex needed. He attacked the yegg steak, grelliats, and other foods on his plate like a starving man.**

**Isabel picked up her fork but seemed to hesitate as she decided whether it would look better sticking out of a grelliat or Michael's back. She gave Michael a quick stare then stabbed the grelliat and put it in her mouth.**

**"Hey, it was better that they know now," Michael said. "I'm only trying to look out for them."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Liz and Alex see the town and meet the others, and everyone tries to figure out how to get them back home again… and where to send them back to, dimensionally, since they seem to have come from an alternate dimension. They also discuss plans to assist them in finding and rescuing the others. Meanwhile, in The Night The Dreams Died, Jeff Parker discovers Liz and Alex unconscious together above the CrashDown, and Judge Lewis, learning of their condition, sees a light at the end of his tunnel, with a little intervention on his part.  **


	11. Dreams10

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Dead And Furious**

**Chapter 10**

**X******

**K****yle Valenti lay sprawled across a leather easy chair, one leg over the arm of the chair, watching football on TV with his father, Sheriff Jim Valenti, when the phone rang.**

**"Awwww… geez," Jim groaned. "One of these days I'm gonna get the number of every salesperson who calls me when I'm busy, and I'm gonna call them back every day for a week while they're watching a game or having their dinner! See how they like it!" Jim set the bowl of popcorn he and Kyle were sharing down on Kyle's lap and walked into the dining room to get the phone. Several minutes later, he returned.**

**"Who was that on the phone, Dad?" **

**Kyle continued watching the game as he popped another piece of popcorn into his mouth, but after some moments had passed, he noticed that his Dad had not answered, and he looked up from the TV. Jim was sitting down with his head in his hands… and it looked like… but that couldn't be.**

**"Dad? Are you okay?" **

**Kyle muted the TV and extricated himself from his chair. "What's wrong, Dad?"**

**Jim shook his head and looked up, clearly making a forced effort to appear calm and in control. But his eyes were red, and Kyle knew that something had to be very, very wrong for it to have affected his father this deeply.**

**"That was the Sheriff from Copper City, Bob Horton, on the phone," Jim said. "He got a report that a car went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass earlier today. Horton and a couple of his deputies checked it out, and some climbers climbed down to the wreck. There wasn't much left… Fire was real hot they said… pretty much burned everything up. No bodies left. It was a straight down drop from the top… 'bout 700 feet accordin' to the Sheriff."**

**"Do they have any idea who it was, Dad?"**

**Jim nodded and swallowed hard. "They found the bumper with the license plate still on it… about a hundred feet from the burned out car… It was Amy's."**

**Kyle opened his mouth, but at first nothing came out. Then he put his hand on his father's shoulder…**

**"Dad, I'm… I'm sorry. I… Is there anything I can do?"**

**Jim shook his head and wiped the corners of his reddened eyes.**

**"No, son. What's already done… can't be changed. I'll have to tell Maria…" As soon as he had said it, Jim realized his mistake. Maria wasn't around anymore to tell. She was presumed dead since being shot at graduation five and a half months before, but Jim had entertained some hope that Liz's visions and premonitions might be right and Maria and the others might actually, somehow, turn up alive. He had looked forward to giving that news to Amy. Now there was no Amy to give it to. **

**"I've got to tell the folks that knew her," Jim said. "We should have a memorial or somethin'. Sheriff Horton said there's no body to bury." Jim closed his eyes and breathed in deeply again to maintain his composure. Then he picked up his hat and put it on his head.**

**"Where you goin', Dad?"**

**"Over to see Reverend Garrett… see what can be done about a memorial for Amy. Then I'm gonna check on Liz Parker. And I reckon I'll have to call Bryan Hollings, the Editor over at the News Journal and let him know… for the paper. Maybe Hansen can do that for me." Jim paused for a moment. "No… No, I ought to do it myself. It's Amy."**

**Jim closed the door behind him, and Kyle swallowed something that felt like a lump in his throat then sat back down slowly in his chair. But the game didn't seem to matter anymore.**

**                                    ************

**Jim climbed the steps beside the CrashDown and knocked on Jeff and Nancy's door. Then he waited. For several moments, he watched the birds fly back and forth between the trees and the telephone lines across the street then fly off again to some points unknown. As he watched, he became aware of a muffled sound, like someone crying, coming from inside the apartment. He knocked on the door again.**

**"Jeff? Are you in there? Is everything alright?"**

**The door opened. **

**"Sheriff! Thank God! We've already called Doc Jennings. I was going to call you next."**

**"What's wrong, Jeff," Jim asked, noticing that Nancy appeared distraught and had been crying. **

**"It's Liz. She's unconscious… in the study… Come on."**

**Jim went in quickly. "Did something happen to her?"**

**"We don't know," Jeff said. "She and Alex were up here together, and they both seem to have just collapsed or passed out or something. We can't wake them up."**

**"Did you check your stove, Jeff? You could have a gas leak."**

**"It's electric," Jeff said.**

**As they entered the study, Jim saw Alex sitting on a sofa. He appeared to be asleep. Liz was leaning on his arm, and she, too, had every appearance of being merely asleep. Jim leaned over the motionless forms of the two teens and checked their eyes, lifting each one's eyelids and shining his light into them.**

**"They're alive, Jeff. Their pupils react to light." He pressed his fingers to each one's neck in turn. "Good heartbeats. They almost seem to just be sleeping, Jeff."**

**"I know, but we can't wake them up, Jim. We thought that, too, but… they won't wake up."**

**Nancy began to cry again softly.**

**"We'll figure out what's wrong, Nancy," Jim said, turning to reassure her. "Whatever it is."**

**"Thanks, Jim." **

**"You say Doc Jennings is on the way?"**

**Jeff nodded.**

**"Good. If Doc can't wake them up, we may have to take them to the hospital for some tests."**

**"Not Roswell General." Jeff shook his head emphatically. **

**"Why not, Jeff? It's a good hospital."**

**"I know it's supposed to be, Jim, but… it's just that when Liz was in there before… after the shooting… well, I really think she would have died if we hadn't got her out when we did. I know they saved her life right after the shooting, but then, about a month after the shooting, she took a sudden unexplained turn for the worse, and she wasn't improving after that… Just the opposite."**

**"You think someone was doing something to her, Jeff?"**

**Jeff shrugged. "I don't want to think it, Jim, but I don't know what else to think. When I took her out of Roswell General and hired Vera to be her personal nurse and just had Doc Jennings check up on her regularly, she stabilized again then began to improve."**

**Jim seemed concerned. "If they can't be awakened, they'll have to be taken somewhere, Jeff. I don't think there's any place else qualified closer than a hundred miles."**

**"If she has to go there… will you keep an eye on her, Sheriff?" **

**"You know I will, Jeff." **

**"Okay… but if I see her condition getting any worse… I'm pulling her out of there just like **

**before."**

**Jim nodded and turned around, as Doc Jennings came into the room with Nancy. Jeff pointed at the sofa, and Doctor Jennings pulled out a small light and his stethoscope and proceeded to do what Jim had done… with the same results.**

**"They seem healthy enough," Doctor Jennings said. "Doesn't seem to be any reason why they should both be unconscious. You checked for gas leaks?"**

**Jeff nodded. "No gas… just electric." **

**"How about in the restaurant downstairs? You could have gas leaking up through the floors into the apartment."**

**Jeff shook his head.**

**"Grills can produce carbon monoxide," Doctor Jennings said, looking at the cuticles on Liz and Alex's hands. "Hmm. They don't have signs of carbon monoxide poisoning, though. The cuticles aren't rosy. Could they have eaten or drank something that was toxic, or… Jeff, I hate to ask this, but… could Liz have been taking drugs?"**

**Jeff bristled visibly. "No!" **

**"Well, it's just that kids sometimes do something crazy when they're together that they wouldn't do by themselves," Doctor Jennings said. "I didn't think Liz would be doing anything, either, but… well, kids, you know?"**

**"My kid," Jeff said. "No! Liz was not taking drugs, Doctor. I'm sure Alex wasn't either."**

**"Was she on any medication that I didn't give her, Jeff? Something she got from another doctor maybe?"**

**Jeff shook his head.**

**Doctor Jennings noticed the two orbs where they had fallen down between Alex and Liz. He picked them up and looked at them briefly, running his fingertips over the unusual symbols on each one.**

**"Indian souvenirs," he said, handing them to Jim. "One of them must have been over to the reservation and visited the souvenir shop." Jim nodded and took the orbs.   **

**"Well, Sheriff… I can't find anything physically wrong with Liz… or the Whitman boy either. I don't rightly know what else to do 'cept to take them for some tests to see if they have anything in their systems that might have poisoned them. I'll have to get permission from the Whitman boy's parents… and your permission, of course, too, Jeff… for Liz. Have the Whitman's been notified?"**

**"We… we didn't think about it," Jeff said. "I'll do it right now." Jeff left the room and returned after several minutes.**

**"They're going to meet us at the hospital."**

**"Okay," Doctor Jennings said. "Can I use your phone, Jeff? I'll call for an ambulance."**

**Jeff handed the phone to Doctor Jennings. "Jim, am I doing the right thing?"**

**"What else can you do, Jeff? If something's wrong with Liz, we need to know what… and it's better we find out sooner than later… when it could be too late."**

**Jeff nodded. "I know Jim… I just can't shake this feeling that this is more than it appears to be and I may be doing the wrong thing. But like you said, it's the only choice we can make. Their lives could depend on it."**

**Jim swallowed and looked at Jeff hesitantly. "Jeff… there's another reason I came over here. I really hate to add anything to your problems right now… but Sheriff Horton, over in Copper City, called me on the phone about two hours ago to tell me that they were working an accident… a car went over the side of Bald Mountain near the upper pass. Horton and a couple of his deputies checked it out, and it was Amy's car. There were no survivors."**

**"Oh No!" Nancy Parker gasped, putting her hands over her mouth. "Your Amy, Sheriff?"**

**Jim hesitated momentarily, caught by surprise by Nancy's spontaneous remark, and Nancy realized what she had said. **

**"Oh, I'm sorry, Jim, I didn't mean that… well… It's just that I know you two were pretty close."**

**"It's alright," Jim said, nodding thoughtfully. "I know what you meant. Yeah… my Amy." **

**Jim rubbed the corner of his eye with the knuckle of his index finger and sniffed. "I think I must be catching something. Anyway, Jeff, I talked to Reverend Garrett, and there's going to be a small memorial tomorrow at 3 PM. I'll understand, of course, if you and Nancy can't come."**

**"We'll be there, Jim," Jeff said. "Unless something happens to Liz at the hospital or she needs us… I think we can take an hour or so away to go to the memorial. Will it be at the church?"**

**"No. It's going to be at Amy's house. She has a beautiful backyard garden with hanging arbors. It's big enough to accommodate everyone. And Amy would appreciate the fact that everyone will be there to see and admire her gardens, I think. She worked hard on them. It seems only right. It'll feel like Amy's spirit is there."**

**"What's going to become of her house, Jim?"**

**"I don't know yet. We're looking into that."**

**"Well, we'll be there, Jim, barring any problems with Liz, of course. You can count on us."**

**"Thanks, Jeff," Jim said. "I know Amy would be pleased to know you and Nancy were there."**

**                                     ************

**-The Next Day-**

**Jim sat down next to Jeff and Nancy Parker. Amy had arranged her gardens with natural-looking rock benches to sit on all around the outside edges of an open space surrounding a central flowering kiosk with a small clear pool fed by water falling over a layered stack of rocks. The garden had a naturally canopied but breezy, airy feeling, like a small glade and stream in the woods, while at the same time being a wonderland of greenery and flowers of every imaginable type. Jim always thought that if he looked hard enough, he'd probably find a little fairy or two somewhere among the flowers.**

**"Glad you could make it, Jeff… Hi, Nancy… How's Liz?"**

**"Same," Nancy said. "No change."**

**"Yeah, I checked on her earlier this morning," Jim said. "The doctors said that her signs were all good. There's that at least."**

**Nancy smiled, but it was a smile tempered by sadness.   **

**The Reverend Garrett cleared his throat and looked around the gardens. For such short notice, it appeared that quite a large number of people had shown up. He saw Jim and Kyle Valenti seated with Jeff and Nancy Parker. He saw Brody Davis, who owned the UFO museum, and his daughter. He saw Bryan Hollings, editor of the Roswell Daily Journal. He saw Alex's parents and his grandparents. A little further back, he saw what appeared to be the entire former football team from Roswell High. Kyle smiled as he saw that his teammates had all shown up. He guessed that he shouldn't be surprised really. At Roswell High, Amy's feisty attitude and willingness to help out in almost any cause had gained her a lot of respect and more than a few friends. Looking across the kiosk, Reverend Garrett thought he saw more than a few teachers and students from Roswell High. He saw people he knew well and people who had not graced his church in many a year… some perhaps never.**

**"My brothers and sisters," Reverend Garrett began… "We have come today to honor the cherished memory of one who has meant a lot to all of us, Amelia Marie DeLuca… Amy, as we all knew her. As we sit here in her gardens and feel the breeze on our faces… hear the singing of the birds… and smell the eternal summery fragrance of the flowers that she loved and cared for… we cannot help but feel that Amy is here with us even as we speak…"**

**Jim noticed several gasps from the other side of the kiosk.**

**"Truly," Reverend Garrett continued, "Amy's indomitable spirit is here in the garden that she loved, and she is doubtless smiling as she sees all the people who loved her… and all the friends who have come here to remember her today."  
  
**

**There were several more gasps. Jim tried to glance back inconspicuously, but he didn't want to spoil the solemn atmosphere of the occasion.**

**"Every person here today has something to remember Amy for… her selflessness… her willingness to jump in and help out whenever she was needed… especially those less fortunate… her indomitable spirit… her wit and seemingly boundless energy… her smiling… her… uh… smiling…" **

**Reverend Garrett glanced up then stood there, his mouth open. Jim and Kyle both turned around. Most of the others present already had. **

**"Amy?"**

**Amy was standing behind them, arms crossed, but what was on her face did not look like a smile.**

**"What's this, Jim?"**

**"My God, Amy! You're alive!"**

**"I'm gone for a day, Jim, and you have my funeral?" Amy whacked Jim on the arm, and he started to laugh.**

**"Oh, and now it's funny, too? I've been walking for two days in the hot sun with no car to get back from that base out there in the desert. Nobody came by on that God-forsaken desert road to even offer me a ride! Nobody came to get me or even look for me! I'm hot! I'm bothered! I'm thirsty! I'm filthy with desert dust! My skin feels like that road out there looks! My hair will probably never be clean again! And you're laughing? Well, I don't see anything funny!"**

**"Not funny, Amy," Jim said, shaking his head. "Relief! I thought you were dead. Sheriff Horton, over in Copper City, said that your car went off the upper pass on Bald Mountain and burned up. He said there were no survivors. We thought…" Jim reached out and pulled Amy into his arms. "We thought you were dead, Amy," he said, his voice breaking.**

**"I'm sorry, Jim," Amy said. "I'm just frustrated. I almost got killed getting onto that base, I got lectured by a pompous general and had guns pointed at me. My car was shot up… WITH ME IN IT! Then I had to walk back to town. And on top of everything, I didn't find Maria."**

**Jim held Amy closer and kissed her on the forehead. "We'll find Maria, Amy… together."**

**Amy nodded.**

**"You know, Amy, all these people came to see you… Well, to remember you, but… Anyway, it seems a shame to waste a good occasion like this, a nice summer day… with a preacher present and all…"**

**Amy pulled back and looked at Jim with a look of incredulity.**

**"Will you marry me, Amy?"**

**"You're out of your mind, Jim! Look at me! I'm dustier than the desert right now! I'm hot! I'm sweaty! I'm in a bad mood! And you want to… You want to… you… you want to… what?"**

**"Marry me, Amy."**

**Amy just stood there, her mouth open. Then she shook her dusty clothes and wiped her arms. Desert dust fell off of both. Amy looked at Reverend Garrett. "Well, what are you standing there for? The man could change his mind! Marry us!"**

**There was a huge roar of laughter and applause from all over the garden.**

**"Jim, if we do this… we can have a proper wedding later… with Maria, right?"**

**Jim smiled and nodded. **

**"Well, come on," Amy said to Reverend Garrett. "Let's do this! It's about time that something good happened to me today!"**

**Reverend Garrett nodded, still not quite over the shock of everything that was happening.**

**"Dearly beloved… we are gathered here today to remember… uh… to join this man and this woman in holy matrimony."**

**"I do," Amy said.**

**"I haven't got to that part yet," Reverend Garrett said under his breath.**

**"I do, too," Jim said, pulling Amy to him and kissing her.**

**Reverend Garrett looked at them and tossed his ceremony book aside.**

**"Then if anyone knows any reason why this man and this woman should not be married, let them speak now or forever hold their peace… I pronounce you man and wife… You may kiss the bride."**

**Jim pulled back and looked at Amy, smiled, and wiped some dust off his lips.**

**"I told you I was dusty," Amy said, smiling. Jim just grinned… then he kissed her again.**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Amy and Jim work together to try to find out what happened to Maria and the others, and Judge Lewis takes advantage of Liz and Alex's condition. **


	12. Dreams11

The Night The Dreams Died, Chapter 11 (The Four Faces Of Rath, Chapter 58) 

**Way Way Way Over The Rainbow**

**Chapter 11**

**XI **

**Liz and Alex stared at the "car," a royal blue Fan-Ji IV…**

**"I don't hear the motor or anything," Liz said, shaking her head in amazement. "How is it just staying there like that in the air?" **

**Max smiled. Liz knew that she was looking at some kind of hover car or anti-gravity vehicle, but she couldn't figure out what made it stay where it was without any noisy fans or anything underneath to lift it off the ground… or any sound of a motor at all as far as she could tell. Yet there it was… about fifteen inches off the ground… not moving at all, as though it were perfectly normal for it to just be parked there like that in the air.**

**"Where's the door handle," Alex asked, running his hand appreciatively over the side of the car. **

**Max pressed his hand to the door just below the window, and a handprint appeared briefly, then the top of the car, "doors" and all, floated back.**

**"Awesome," Alex said. "Could I do it, or are you the only one who can open it?"**

**"It's programmed to my DNA," Max said, "but it'll respond to anyone I program it to recognize."**

**"Awesome," Alex repeated. "I don't guess I could take one of these back with me? I love this car…"**

**Max smiled. "It might be hard to explain." **

**"I know," Alex acknowledged ruefully, "but it sure would be fun to drive back to college in one of these."**

**Max helped Liz Parker and his wife into the car, though clearly there was no need other than mere chivalry. All they had to do was step in and sit down. Even the seat restraints were automatic. Alex stepped into the back with Liz Parker, and Max sat down in the driver's seat then waved his hand over a sensor on the dash. The car seemed to rise upward gently and rotate to the left as Max turned the steering wheel. Then it moved forward smoothly. It felt oddly like an Earth car, except that it was floating on air, so there were no bumps, no road noises… just the sound of the wind… until Max pressed a button, closing the side ports… small vents in the lower part of the windows. Then there was only silence, as the scenery whisked by. **

**Suddenly, Liz and Alex's seats, which were individually controlled, both tilted back slightly.**

**"What happened," Alex asked. "Did I do that?"**

**Max grinned. "No, I did it. You can control them yourselves, though."**

**Alex moved his hand around under the seat but found no control levers or buttons.**

**"Lift your hand," Max said. "Point at the back of the seat in front of you." **

**Alex did, and a set of sensors appeared in the air in front of him. They were there… yet not there… at least not in the sense that they could actually be felt, physically. The entire panel was something that Alex could only describe as "virtual reality." He pushed at a sensor button, but his finger went through the panel, and nothing happened.**

**"Try again," Max said. "Just touch it… Don't stick your finger through it."**

**Alex "touched" the sensor on the virtual touch pad with his fingertip, and his seat resumed an upright position. Then he leaned the seat back again.**

**"Cool! Awesome!" What does this one do?" Alex pointed at another sensor on the virtual touch pad.**

**"In the lower right corner? That's the eject button," Max said. "That's in case the car goes crazy and takes off headed for the stars with everyone in it… You push that button and it throws you out of the car through the roof."**

**Alex looked at Max for any sign that he was joking. Max didn't have a trace of a smile or a grin.**

**"Really?" Alex asked, removing his finger carefully. Max smiled.**

**"Max, you're no different in any dimension!" Alex pressed the sensor, and music began to waft out from the virtual console. Then he lowered his hand, and the virtual console disappeared, but the music continued.**

**"Not bad," Alex said. "I kind of like it." Liz, sitting next to him, looked at him quizzically.**

**"The music, I mean."**

**"What music," Liz asked.**

**"The music that I just turned on. Don't you hear it?"**

**Liz shook her head.**

**"It's audible only to you, Alex," Liz Evans said from the front. "The controls allow you to make it audible to everyone if you wish, but their controls allow them to override it if they choose not to listen to it or prefer to listen to something else."**

**"Mom and Dad would have loved that!" Alex said. He leaned his seat back again and watched the scenery go by.**

**"It looks a lot like Earth," he said after several minutes had passed. "I mean, you have trees and bushes and lakes and… and even horses."**

**Liz Evans nodded. "Our horses are a little different when you see them up close, though."**

**"Well, they look just like regular horses running out there in the pasture… and they gallop like real horses… What? Do they fly or something?"**

**Liz laughed. "No… not that we know of. They just come with some unusual colors and markings… and they've got this little thing on their heads like a budding unicorn's horn. It's not obvious from a distance. The Antarians call them yoriths… the horses, I mean."**

**"They run fast," Liz Parker said. Liz Evans nodded. "Wait'll you see Jim's pawgor run… and jump! It's incredible."**

**"That's the saber-tooth tiger I saw playing with the little boy… Danyy, isn't it," the younger Liz said. **

**Alex looked surprised. "So then you, uh… you weren't just kidding about that before? Liz shook her head.**

**"Oh… um… okay…" Alex said softly. **

**"Well, I don't know if it's exactly a saber-tooth tiger," Liz Evans said, "like the ones on Earth in prehistoric times. But it looks just like all the pictures I've ever seen of one… so that's what we call it… other than a pawgor I mean. That's what it really is, of course… a pawgor."**

**Liz watched the scenery distractedly for several moments, then she looked back at Alex. "We should really be trying to get back home, Alex… Max and Michael and Maria and Isabel are still lost, and I need to find them… and I don't know what will happen when Mom and Dad find us together in the den."**

**"I didn't think about that," Alex said. "You don't think your Dad will think… I mean… We were both sitting up, right? He won't think… you know…?"**

**"I'm sure he'll forgive you, Alex."**

**Alex swallowed.**

**"After he throws you out the window," Liz added with a slight smile.**

**"See… that's what I'm afraid of," Alex said. "Your apartment's upstairs… and I don't bounce very well."**

**Liz smiled. "Dad would know something was wrong, Alex. You don't need to worry about him throwing you out the window. I'm worried about what he'll think, though, when neither one of us wakes up."**

**Alex looked at her and nodded, understanding fully the implications of what Liz was saying.**

**"Well, I've got Varec researching the history of the orbs now," Max said. "He's the best scientist on Antar. If the information is available anywhere, he'll find out what you need to do to get back. We have our own set of orbs here, but Varec was concerned about sending you back with ours, since yours were from another dimension or something. We don't want to send you back where you don't belong and have you lost… interdimensionally or something… like those guys on Sliders on TV back on Earth."**

**"That could really happen?" Alex asked.**

**"You're here," Max said. "It seems you've proved it." **

**"So… how are we going to get back?" Alex asked. "We kind of left our orbs behind when we came here."**

**"That's what Varec is trying to find out," Max said. "There has to be a way to do it. Varec and I both feel certain of that. It's just a matter of knowing what it is. When we know, we'll tell you and help you get back… but for now, all you can do is relax and enjoy your time here… however long or short it might be."**

**"I'm enjoying being here and seeing everything…" Liz said. "but I feel guilty… like I shouldn't be here when I need to be helping them… They could be hurt."**

**"You were paralyzed before you came here, weren't you, Liz?" Liz Evans asked.**

**Liz Parker nodded.**

**"How were you going to help them if you were paralyzed?"**

**"I was getting better," Liz said. "I exercised… as much as I could… for therapy. Vera helped me. That's my nurse. I just need to be there. I don't know what I can do, but I need to be there to try. Can you understand?"**

**Liz Evans turned around and looked at her younger self and nodded. "Yeah. I can understand."**

**Max brought the car to a stop beside a tight parking space between two other cars. "This is our oldest and best still-standing department store right here, guys. It's called 'Kyyks.'" Max turned the steering wheel to the right while depressing a small button on the center console bar, and the car floated sideways into the parking space and stopped.**

**"That was too cool," Alex said. "How many years are we behind you on Earth?"**

**"You mean how long till you can buy one of these?" Max asked.**

**"Yeah."**

**"Earth civilization is about 28,000 years younger than Antarian civilization."**

**"I don't think I can wait that long," Alex said.**

**Max grinned. "That doesn't mean it will take that long on Earth. Antar had different priorities along the way. You could have something like this in the next… hundred years or so."**

**"Oh, just a hundred? No problem then," Alex said, looking downcast in spite of his grin. "I'll just put it on my Christmas list for the year 2,114."**

**"Sorry, Alex," Max said. Max waved his hand over the console, and the top and doors floated back and the seat restraints unlocked. "Everyone who's going in, follow Liz. She lives here when she's not in the palace," Max said with a wry grin.**

**Liz smiled sheepishly. "I don't always buy something. I just like to shop. Besides, you've been over to that new hover car dealer with all the new alien vehicles more times lately than I've been here."**

**Max nodded. "She's right. It's my downfall. The Fan-Ji IV is an Antarian car, but alien vehicles are becoming all the rage at the moment here on Antar. There are some very unusual vehicles out there… built by creatures whose physiology is radically different than ours in some cases… creatures who have radically different concepts of what transportation should be like. It's kind of awesome to see some of them up close and test drive them."**

**"I can imagine," Alex said.**

**Liz laughed. "Wait'll you've seen some of them, Alex! I'm not sure that you [b]can[/b] imagine! At least Antarian cars look pretty much like Earth cars, even if they are futuristic by Earth standards."**

**As they turned to go in, a long, strange-looking vehicle pulled up alongside Max's Fan-Ji IV. Easily three times as long as Max's car, this new vehicle had large flaps that stuck out on the lower sides. They probably had something to do with the hovering system or with stabilizing the car, but they made it look like a giant translucent stingray –the fish kind- with windows on the top, swimming down the road.**

**"Good luck finding a place to park that!" Alex laughed.**

**As he watched, a man, and then a woman, exited the vehicle. Then the vehicle disappeared suddenly in a bright flash of light.**

**"Where did it go," Alex asked.''**

**"Watch," Max replied. The man leaned over and picked up something tiny at his feet and put it into his pocket. **

**"When he comes back out and presses the button, the car will become normal size again," Max said.**

**"Well, I hope he doesn't accidentally press the button while he's got the car in his pocket…" Alex scoffed… "especially when he's on the escalator or something. That would be interesting. It's so tiny. What if he can't find it after he shrinks it… or someone steps on it before he can pick it up? It looks more like a flattened plastic submarine… or some kind of freaky, ground-hugging flying saucer with a limo attached to the back! Who would make a car like that?"**

**Max smiled. "The Archedians would. And it's not plastic. They call it neopseudobiological stressed metallic alloy. You think it looks odd outside… You should see it inside!"**

**Alex shook his head. "No thanks. The only thing I can imagine worse than accidentally pressing the button when that car's in my pocket would be accidentally shrinking it with me still in it. I don't feel like swimming in a bowl of milk with my arm through a cheerio or using ant transportation until someone finds me with a magnifying glass and picks me up with a pair of tweezers, thank you."**

**Liz Parker giggled, and her Antarian counterpart smiled.**

**"What does the guy that owns it say in the morning," Alex continued. "Honey, I can't find the car. Do you remember which coat I left it in? By the way… Where's our kid? Was that him I saw swimming in my froot loops this morning?"**

**Both Lizzes laughed. **

**Max smiled. "Come on. Let's go in." **

**"Honest, Dear," Alex continued, faking a female voice as they walked into the store, "I swear I didn't know the car was in the pocket when I put your pants in the washer." **

**Both Lizzes were laughing out loud now, and Max was shaking his head.**

**"Maybe if I use the hair dryer on it…" Alex added apologetically, using his most contrite female voice.**

**"Don't encourage him," Max said, smiling too, in spite of himself. "You wouldn't want to be responsible for him running away and becoming a circus clown."**

**"You're just jealous," Alex said, "because I can make girls laugh without dropping my pants."**

**Liz's mouth fell open, and she glanced at her Antarian counterpart, who was smiling slightly but appeared shocked, too. Max looked at Alex… **

**"Alex… You're the same in any dimension."**

**"I'll take that as a compliment," Alex said.**

**"Go easy, Alex," Liz Parker whispered to him. "He is the king here… He could have you locked up… or executed… or something."**

**Alex smiled. "He's just Max… king or no king. He's still Max."**

**Max took out his communicator and punched a number. "Jarto'h, how long would it take to prepare the gallows for an afternoon execution? Four hours? Can you make it three? Good." Max put the device back into his pocket.**

**"He's kidding," Alex said confidently. "You were kidding… right, Max?"**

**Max didn't answer.**

**"I'm sure he was kidding," Alex said. "Max wouldn't… I mean… I know he's not our Max, but he's still… How different can he be just because he's from another dimension… and a king here?"**

**Max remained silent. Alex seemed unusually quiet for a few minutes, then he shrugged.**

**"I was just kidding, you know, Max… about the… you know… I don't know where that came from. It was just a joke."**

**"Liz," Max said, "why don't you and… uh, you and Liz… go check out the ladies things, and I'll take care of Alex. I'll meet you here in, say, two hours?"**

**Alex swallowed. Liz nodded and smiled then turned to lead her unsure younger counterpart off toward another section of the store. Max motioned for Alex to follow. **

**"I know what you're doing, Alex?"**

**"You do?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"What am I doing?"**

**Max smiled. "Liz was shot, paralyzed… and condemned unfairly to live her life in a wheelchair. She's had every reason to be emotionally destroyed, every reason to give up on life… to give up on happiness. You've been keeping her spirits up… keeping her laughing… giving her a friend to lean on."**

**Alex shrugged. "Yeah… well, I just do it… I don't think about it, but… I just wanted to… yeah… I guess you're right. I have been trying to make her laugh. I just want her to be happy, Max. So does Kyle… and Kyle's Dad… Sheriff Valenti… and her Mom and Dad. I guess I can try to tone the joking down if you…"**

**Max shook his head. "Don't even think about doing that! The two of you may be from another dimension… and she may be younger than my Liz… but she's still Liz. And I still love her, Alex. Make her laugh! All you can! You've got something that puts her at ease and makes her happy… a natural sense of humor and compassion… Like I said, you really are a lot like our Alex… I guess you really are the same in any dimension… Anyway, I just wanted you to know… I appreciate what you're doing. And I wanted to thank you… for my counterpart down there… wherever he is… and… and… for me, too." Max looked at Alex, and Alex thought he saw a glint of moisture in Max's eyes.**

**"You're not going to execute me, then?"**

**Max grinned slowly. "Oh, I didn't say that. What's an afternoon without a good execution? But if you keep Liz smiling and laughing, I guess I'd be obliged to pardon you." **

**"I'll give it my usual superior effort, your highness," Alex replied with an understanding smile.**

**"I'm sure you will," Max said. "I don't know if I can take it… But it makes Liz laugh, so don't ever stop! …You want to play some pinball?"**

**"You've got that up here?"**

**Max nodded. "Well, it's the Antarian version, but it's pretty much the same idea as Earth pinball… sort of."**

**"Yeah, okay, sure! But I thought we were supposed to be shopping for clothes."**

**"What for," Max asked.**

**"Well… to wear, I guess."**

**"No need. When we see the girls, they'll want us to come check out some shirts and things that they saw that they thought would look great on us. We go with them and try them on. Voila! We found what we came for. We just buy what they like. Saves us having to make a lot of choices."**

**"I think I see why you wore that same brown sweater all the time back on Earth, Max."**

**"We've still got time for an execution this afternoon."**

**"Pinball sounds good."**

**                                ************

**In the ladies wear department, Liz Parker picked up a rather pretty blouse and held it up. It had an oddly exotic look, but it could pass for Earth wear. Most of the clothes she saw here could, though there were a few that probably would raise some eyebrows and bring unwanted questions. **

**"When we go back, will we be able to take anything with us?"**

**Liz Evans thought a moment. "I don't know. I don't know why not, though. You came here with what you had on."**

**"But we had the orbs in our hands… and they stayed there."**

**"Yeah, that's true… Maybe they're made to… I don't know. We'll just have to find out, I guess, won't we?"**

**Liz Parker smiled. "I'd really love to take some of these back, but I know some of them would be hard to explain. People would want to know who the designer was, and what would I tell them?"**

**"Give them a name… any Antarian name. They'll probably say they've heard of him."**

**Liz laughed. "You're right. They probably would. Some of our designers on Earth are a little out of the world anyway! You know… I'm really glad I came here. I haven't really been out shopping since… since… well, you know… what happened to me."**

**Liz Evans nodded.**

**"And it would be hard to really enjoy myself shopping in a wheelchair… not the way I'm enjoying myself right now, being here with you… walking and all."**

**"I know," Liz Evans said, smiling. "I'm glad you came here, too. Maybe we can find a way to help you find Max and the others when you go back."**

**"Oh, I hope so," the younger Liz said. "That would be like… a dream come true! Max is… well… the first guy… the only guy really… I ever really loved. I'm crazy about Kyle and Alex, but I love Max. Can you understand?"**

**"Look who you're talking to," Liz Evans said. "Yeah, I understand."**

**"I hope your Max and my Alex are having fun shopping," Liz Parker said.**

**"Oh, they're playing pinball," Liz Evans said, "or video games one… in the arcade."**

**"How do you know that?"**

**"I'm married to him… I know a lot of things he doesn't know I know." Liz smiled. "They'll show up and expect us to show them some great-looking clothes we found for them, they'll buy them, and they'll pretend they were shopping the whole time."**

**"You don't mind?"**

**Liz Evans smiled. "Why should I mind? I know he'll be well-dressed."**

**Liz Parker laughed. "Good point! But I can't believe they would try to make us think they were shopping while they were really somewhere else… having fun."**

**"Well, we're having fun," Liz Evans said.**

**"Well, yeah, I know, but guys aren't supposed to have fun shopping."**

**"I guess that's why they're in the video arcade."**

**"I guess so… but you know… if they tell us they were shopping, I think I'd like to play a little joke on them."**

**"What do you have in mind?"**

**Liz Parker whispered to her Antarian counterpart, and Liz Evans smiled. "It sounds like something Alex might appreciate… a few years from now." She nodded. "I like it."**

**                                ************

**After playing various Antarian video games in the arcade, Max looked at the time and patted Alex on the back.**

**"Ten minutes till we're supposed to meet the girls. We better not be late. They may come looking for us."**

**"You live a dangerous life, Max."**

**Max smiled. "Some of us thrive on danger, Alex. It's the daredevil in us."**

**"Or maybe just the devil." Alex grinned.**

**"What was that?"**

**Alex shook his head. "Nothing."**

**As Max and Alex walked back toward the place where they had left Liz and her younger counterpart, they saw that the girls were already there.**

**"There they are, Alex. Remember what I told you."**

**Alex nodded.**

**"How'd you guys do," Liz Parker asked. "I don't see any packages."**

**"We didn't find anything we liked," Max said, only half lying.**

**"Well," Liz Evans said, "We saw some things that would look great for both of you! Why don't you come take a look! Try them on!"**

**Max looked at Alex and smiled. Alex shook his head. "You da man, Max. You called it," he said quietly.**

**Max grinned. "Okay, we'll look. I hope they're better than what we looked at."**

**"Oh, I'm sure of that," Liz Evans said. She took Max by the hand and led him to the men's department.**

**"Close your eyes… both of you. We want it to be a surprise. You're gonna love it!"**

**Max looked at Alex and shrugged, then both of them closed their eyes. Liz Evans unbuttoned Max's shirt and took it off, and her younger counterpart unbuttoned and removed Alex's shirt. Then they both worked quickly to put another shirt on each one. Max felt Liz put something on his head and something around his neck. He wondered about it, ties being unusual apparel on Antar, but then he figured that it must be an Antarian dress collar. Liz Parker put a hat on Alex's head and told him to sit down. Then she slipped something on over his pants.**

**"Okay, guys, you can look now," Liz Evans said. "What do you think?"**

**"It looks great," Max said, automatically, as he opened his eyes. Then he caught a glimpse of Alex, and his mouth dropped open. Alex looked at Max and snorted, then broke into hysterical laughter. Max looked at his own clothes then looked in the mirror. He had on a silky yellow shirt that must have been brighter than the Antarian sun. And as if that weren't enough, it had purple polka-dots that almost pulsated with their own life. Then there were hot pink diagonal lines zig-zagging through all the polka-dots, connecting them in random fashion. On his head, Max had an odd-looking hat with a very large feather in it, and around his neck was a bright red kerchief that looked more like something a clown would wear. Alex had on a pink shirt with green vertical stripes and a hat that was three times too large. But most embarrassingly, over his pants, he had on a pair of women's undies… with the word "Monday" across the front in Antarian.**

**"I'm not even going to ask what that says," Alex said. "Max?"**

**Max shrugged. "I'd say they're playing a joke on us, Alex. Must be your personality rubbing off on everyone."**

**"Oh, yeah! Blame it on the guy with the alien undies! That's always the way!" **

**Max grinned. "You do look… amazing, Alex! I must admit."**

**"Look at yourself, you pervert. Stop looking at my undies!"**

**Max turned red but couldn't stop laughing.**

**"Where did you find this stuff," Max asked Liz. "I don't think even the diciest Antarian would wear these things!" Liz looked over to the side and motioned to someone to come out. It was Jayyd Guerin, and she was grinning from ear to ear.**

**"Did they like it, Aunt Liz?"**

**"They loved it, Jayyd!" Liz turned back to Max, "I called Michael and asked if we could borrow Jayyd for a little while… to alter some colors for us. When I explained what we needed, he was more than eager to help."**

**"Oh, I'll just bet he was," Max said. "Is he here, too? Come on out, Michael! …We may have that execution yet, Alex!"**

**Michael walked out from behind the wall with a smile on his face. "You guys look… ridiculous."**

**Max and Alex pulled their shirts off quickly and put their own shirts back on, and Alex pulled off the panties and the oversized hat.**

**"I've got to say, though, Max, I thought it brought out the real you," Michael added with a chuckle.**

**"Laugh it up, Michael! Payback will be sweet!"**

**"You'll have to top this," Michael said. "And the sweet thing is, it was Liz's idea!"**

**Liz Evans shrugged and looked sheepish. Both Lizzes were laughing.**

**"I especially like that hat with the big feather, Max," Michael said. "It's really fetching!"**

**Max reached up and pulled the hat off of his head.**

**"That can't be a real feather," Alex said. "It's got to be at least three feet long!"**

**"I think it's a jah-ee feather," Liz Evans said.**

**"You've got birds that big?"**

**"Only the jah-ee. This is one of its smallest feathers. I've seen people picking up small loose feathers after Max has had a visit from the jah-ee. I guess they sell the feathers to designers."**

**Max looked at the hat and pulled out the price tag. "Oh, geez! Put this back! I'd have to mortgage the palace to pay for this!"**

**Liz looked at the tag. "Well, that may be a little bit of an exaggeration… but that is an awful lot of money. I guess jah-ee feathers aren't cheap."**

**Michael snorted, as he began to laugh again. "Well, they look good on you, Max! You'll have to wear them more often." **

**Max reddened.**

**"And Alex," Michael said, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I think I can spring for you to get the whole set of those cute undies. You don't want to wear 'Monday' every day."**

**Alex turned red. "Is that what it said?"**

**Liz nodded.**

**"Well, I guess it could have been worse," Alex said. "I had all kinds of ideas about what that might have said."**

**Max and Michael laughed, and then both Lizzes began to laugh again, though they were trying hard not to.**

**"Have you guys eaten yet," Michael asked. Max shook his head.**

**"Common, let's go to the CrashDown then," Michael said. "I'll treat."**

**"Well, I am getting kind of hungry again," Alex said.**

**"Me, too," Liz Parker said, nodding.**

**"Okay," Max agreed. "Just let me take a quick look in the mirror again to make sure I'm back to my own self."**

**"You really should wear the feather," Michael chuckled. "Maybe they'd rent it to you for the day."**

**"Laugh it up, big guy," Max said. "Alex will get to see that execution."**

**"Don't worry, Alex," Liz Evans said. "There hasn't been an execution on Antar since Max and Michael kicked Kivar's butt and took our planet back."**

**Alex smiled and nodded understandingly.**

**"You executed Kivar?"**

**"No," Max said. "The jah-ee took care of Kivar and Nicholas for us. Kivar was the last one to execute anyone on Antar. There's very little crime on Antar, and after Kivar, everyone would just as soon never see an execution again."**

**"Really? That's good to know," Alex said.**

**"Though I still could make an exception," Max said with a grin.**

**"Let's go get some chow," Michael said. Jayyd, you hungry?"**

**"UM HMMM!"**

**"Good. Come on, guys."**

**Liz paid for the things they had bought, including a couple of shirts and pants for Max and Alex. Then Max, Michael, Liz Evans, Liz Parker, Alex, and Jayyd all left together with Michael to go to the CrashDown.**

**                                   ************

**Liz Parker stared at the front of the CrashDown for several minutes, then she walked through the door and sat down with the others at a large booth in the corner. Almost immediately, a young Antarian girl appeared to take their orders… dressed in the same alien motif apron and antennae that Liz had once worn. The girl took their orders with a smile and then disappeared into the kitchen.**

**"I can't believe this," Liz said. "I feel like… like I should be putting my apron on and going to work. I expect at any minute Dad will walk out and…"**

**As she spoke, Jeff Parker walked out of the kitchen and looked up to see Max, Michael, Jayyd, a somewhat young-looking Alex, and… two Lizzes. He shook his head and opened his eyes again.**

**"If I go back to bed and wake up again, are there still going to be two of you, Liz?"**

**Liz Evans nodded. "I'm afraid so, Dad."**

**"You called him, Dad?" Liz Parker asked automatically. "Oh, that's right… I guess he is… you are… I mean…" Liz Evans stood up and put her arms around Jeff, and then Liz Parker did, too.**

**"You look just like Dad… I guess you are… in a way… only you look a little… older maybe… Is that a couple of white hairs I see?"**

**"That's what happens when you see your daughter suddenly become a teenager again," Jeff said, plucking the two hairs out and looking at them.**

**Alex laughed, and Liz smiled.**

**"It's a long story, Dad," Liz Evans said. "Liz and Alex here are from… we think they're from a sort of parallel dimension. The orbs brought them here. Liz was shot at her graduation and woke up from a four-month coma to find out she was paralyzed. Somehow, she's not paralyzed when she's here, though."**

**Jeff appeared clearly moved by this information.**

**"I always wondered how we managed to make it out of there without losing our children," he said. "It was a miracle. Did the others survive… in your world… wherever you came from?"**

**"That's what they're trying to find out, Dad. Max, Michael, Isabel, and Maria were supposedly killed. Four months after their funerals, though, Sheriff Valenti found out that the bodies weren't in their coffins. And Liz here has had flashes in which she has seen Max and Maria calling her. She thinks they may all be alive."**

**"Da-" Jeff stated, then he glanced at Jayyd… "Doggone FBI Special Unit and the Army's Alien Task Force. They were a scourge in our world… until Dan became the head of the unit. Dan changed everything. He's one of the good ones."**

**"Dan who?" Liz Parker asked.**

**"You wouldn't know him. Dan Klein… and his wife, Diane. What was her maiden name? Anyway, it's Klein now. Casey! That was her name before. Diane Casey. She used to be an agent with the FBI's Special Unit, but she turned to our side. Then the President made Dan head of the Unit after the former head disappeared leaving the Unit in disarray and plagued by scandal. Dan gave the Unit a whole new direction, and he and Diane travel back and forth to Earth all the time now."**

**"From Antar?" Alex asked. Jeff nodded.**

**"Maybe Dan Klein could help us," Alex suggested.**

**"I doubt it, Alex," Jeff said. "Before Diane met us and Dan fell in love with her, both of them were Special Unit agents. They never met us yet in your world it would seem. You seem to be ten or fifteen years younger than we are. And since graduation didn't happen the same way in your world, there's no guarantee that anything else will either."**

**"But maybe the people have the same hearts," Alex said. "I don't know… maybe they just need to find their way in our world like they did in yours. What I mean is that as long as nothing comes along and affects this Dan Klein in my world, he may remain a dedicated agent, but given similar… situations… he might turn out to have the same heart that the one in your world does."**

**Jeff nodded. "I see what you're saying… and you could be right… but the situation that brought Dan over to our side in our world may never be duplicated in your world. I would have to consider him extremely dangerous in his… let's say, pre-enlightened days… Diane, too, probably. Besides, I don't think we would know where to find him, and even if we did, he would have no influence in your world. He hasn't been made the head of the agency there yet… He may never be."**

**Alex nodded and sighed. "It was just a thought."**

**The girl returned and placed the orders on the table. Alex and Liz seemed especially hungry, but everyone seemed to enjoy the food. As they were finishing, another person came into the CrashDown.**

**"Varec!" Max called. "Over here! Come join us." Varec smiled and walked quickly over to the table and sat down.**

**"I've got good news, Zan!"**

**"Well, tell us," Max said, swallowing a bite of his alien cheeseburger. "We could use some good news… anything you've got."**

**"I can get you back," Varec said to Alex and Liz. "You can go home!"**

**Everyone was silent. **

**"I thought you'd be happy," Varec said. "I thought that's what you wanted."**

**"Yeah… yeah, it is, Varec," Max said. "It's just that it's so… sudden… and unexpected."**

**Alex and Liz both nodded.**

**"Well…" Varec said, sizing up the situation astutely, "there's no need to leave until you want to, of course. It could just as well be tomorrow… or a year from now… as today."**

**Alex sighed and looked at Liz, and she smiled slightly.**

**"You don't look forward to going back to the chair, do you, Liz?" Alex asked.**

**Liz shook her head, and Varec looked confused. "The electric chair?"**

**Liz smiled and sniffed. "Worse! The wheelchair. It's alright, Alex. I have to find Max… and Maria and Michael and Isabel. If I'm not there to keep pushing everyone to find them, who will? I know Amy will always look for Maria, but she needs somebody to help her. I have to do it… and I have to go back right away. How soon can we go?"**

**Varec took out a set of orbs. "Anytime you're ready." **

**Liz looked at Alex.**

**Alex swallowed and nodded. "We need to go now," he said to Varec. "Max… Michael… Liz… it's been… super meeting you and being here. Maybe we'll meet again someday." Alex sniffed, then Liz did, too. Liz hugged Max, and Max kissed her on the cheek. Then she hugged Michael and her counterpart, Liz Evans. Then she hugged Jeff again.**

**Alex looked at Jayyd and smiled. "Jayyd, it's been a special… um… experience meeting you! If I ever need some clown clothes, I'll sure see if you're available to do the color changes. You're awesome!" **

**Liz smiled and hugged Jayyd. "That goes for me, too. I really could use you on my world. Varec? Can we go?"**

**Varec nodded and handed Alex and Liz each an orb.**

**"Each of you hold an orb in one hand, and hold each other's hands with the other hand. Then place the two orbs together, forming a complete circuit."**

**"Then she's gonna click her heels together three times while saying, 'I want to go home,' right?" Alex said. Liz laughed and slapped him playfully on the arm.**

**"No," Varec said. "Verbal incantations won't work. You both need to concentrate on the orbs and on where you want to go. You will see the object of your search in your minds. Then you go to it."**

**"Just like that?" Alex asked.**

**Varec nodded.**

**"Think about our bodies, Alex. We want to go back to our bodies on Earth."**

**"Good thinking, Liz." Both of them closed their eyes. Max looked at his wife, Liz. She had tears in her eyes. Then he looked at Michael. Michael swallowed silently. Max looked back at Alex and Liz and raised one hand as they began to disappear.**

**"Take care of her, Alex," he said, his voice breaking in spite of all his efforts. "Keep her laughing."**

**As Alex and Liz disappeared, the orbs fell to the floor. At the table, several minutes passed in silence… other than for the occasional sniffle and the sound of napkins disappearing from the napkin holder. **

**"Varec," Max said, finally breaking the silence, "could we use our orbs to go to her world?"**

**"I don't think so, Zan. I could research some more, but dimensional travel with the orbs was a fluke. It wasn't supposed to happen. What I found out was that their coming here opened up a pathway for the orbs to take them back… under the right conditions."**

**"Could we go there with the sphere of the portal?"**

**Varec shook his head. "The sphere's are confined to this dimension… They can see and travel into the past and future… but only in our dimension. Unfortunately, there is no experience with dimensional travel in our history."**

**"Then there's no way that you know of for us to help them?"**

**"Well… there may be one."**

**"What?"**

**"The New Granolith. Theoretically, it could travel dimensionally. You must understand that it has never been tried or proven. It's only a theory."**

**"Your theory, Varec?"**

**Varec nodded.**

**"That's good enough for me." Max looked at Michael, and Michael nodded his agreement. Then he looked at Liz, and she nodded, too.**

**"How long would it take to get the ship ready?"**

**"Three days… then, by my calculations, twelve days to get there."**

**"How soon can you get workers started on preparing the New Granolith? It hasn't been used for a while."**

**"They've already started. I expected you to make this decision."**

**"Michael," Max said, "We need to plan this out over the next couple of days while they're preparing the New Granolith. And we need to recruit whoever's going to go with us to help."**

**Michael nodded, and Max looked around the table and smiled…**

**"Folks… We're going to Earth."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: This storyline will continue, chronologically, in The Night The Dreams Died. Alex and Liz return to their bodies, but things are not as they left them. To help Max, Maria, Michael, and Isabel, they will first have to save themselves, and the prospects of that have just gone from challenging to dismal. In the next chapter of this book, The Four Faces Of Rath, Max and group set out for Earth in Dimension "Y" with the New Granolith, but being twelve days away, there is a real fear that they may be too late to help anyone by the time they arrive. Expect Amy and Jim to be formidable together. If they can keep Liz and Alex from a tragic end for long enough… and if Maria can keep Isabel alive long enough… and not be discovered… help is on the way. But will Max and the other rescuers get there in time… or will they simply be too late to do anything but mourn when they finally get there? And are Liz and Alex really as helpless as their persecutors believe them to be?**


	13. Dreams12

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Rahn**

**Chapter 12**

**XII******

**I****t was an almost imperceptible noise, but the soldier standing guard in the highly secret, well-protected underground passageway under area 51 was no ordinary soldier. He was part of an elite unit… a highly trained, highly motivated product of the most rigid army training, in superior physical condition, with trained, keenly-honed sensory abilities. This was a man who would notice something that any ordinary soldier or other person would likely never be aware of until it was too late. **

**The sound had been as quiet and as innocuous as a leaf falling on the ground, but Major Manuel Ruiz whirled around, his weapon at ready. He never had time to pull the trigger. His mouth opened in a silent scream, as the thirty-something-foot-long anaconda uncoiled its entire length with all the speed of a bullet, throwing loop after loop of its huge muscular body around its victim.**

**Ruiz tried briefly to call for help, but no sound would come from his lungs, which were already being pressed mercilessly, preventing any air from entering. He struggled, but the snake merely coiled more tightly around his chest and stomach. He tried to keep air in his lungs… to keep his chest from being crushed… but each time he breathed out even a puff of air, the anaconda tightened its hold a little more. He heard one rib crack… then another… Then everything faded into darkness.**

**                                     ************

**Major Manuel Ruiz put his helmet on and brushed his uniform off, making sure that everything was in peak military form. He pressed the edges of his shirt back into his pants tightly, smoothing the last trace of a wrinkle out with his hand. Then he picked up his rifle and walked down the hall purposefully. At the end of the hall, he looked briefly one way and then the other. Then he turned and walked down the hall to the left, nodding as he passed another guard. The guard nodded back. Ruiz walked further down the hall then turned right into another hall, nodding to another guard. This guard didn't nod back…**

**"Who's guarding your post, Ruiz? You're out of your area."**

**"I was relieved by another unit, sir."**

**"Then why are you going this way? The relief post is the other direction… but you know that," the guard said, eyeing Ruiz suspiciously.**

**"Yes, sir. I was merely… Here! Here are my orders, sir." Ruiz took a folded paper from his pocket and handed it to Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York, who reached out and took it, momentarily leaving himself vulnerable. Ruiz brought the butt of his rifle up sharply, catching the surprised guard under the chin and knocking him unconscious. Then he quickly switched clothes with the unconscious man, handcuffed his hands behind his back with his own handcuffs, and tied his feet with his belt.**

**Lieutenant Colonel Andrew York straightened his uniform and placed his helmet on his head. Then he walked down the hall to the end and turned left into yet another hall. This hall was extremely long but essentially unguarded. Saying that it was unguarded might actually be inaccurate, though. The only reason there were no guards posted in this hall was that, in the past, several had been killed when they tripped the lasers that protected the half-mile-long passageway… and it seemed almost superfluous, besides dangerous, to post guards here among the active lasers. When official personnel visited the area, as they did regularly, the lasers were turned off for them. The guards did not have that option available to them.**

**Lieutenant Colonel York studied the passageway for several moments, searching with eyes that seemed to have an eagle-like intensity. Then he stepped into the hall and began to walk down it, swiftly and confidently walking first along the left side then along the right side… occasionally stepping high or leaping over unseen beams. He reached the end of the hall after about ten minutes and looked at the steel door in front of him. York placed one hand over the lock on the steel door and watched the lock slowly melt then drip to the ground, forming a small lake of molten ore at his feet. Then the door swung open.**

**It was dark inside the room, but York had no trouble seeing the two men inside. One sat in the corner, his head resting on his arms, which were rested on his knees. The other sat leaning against a wall, his legs stretched out. Both appeared to have been sleeping… or perhaps trying to sleep… and both appeared to be emotionally drained, malnourished, and in a severe state of mental and physical fatigue and stress from recent injuries. **

**The young man in the corner looked up at the guard for a moment then laid his head wearily back on his arms.**

**"Psst."**

**The young man looked up again. York held his hand in front of him, and his hand began to glow, casting light on his face. Then, as the two young men watched, Lieutenant Colonel York's face began to change.**

**The young man in the corner gasped. "Rahn!"**

**The man in the doorway placed a finger over his lips.**

**"Rahn… What are you doing coming back here? You'll get caught!"**

**"No, Zan. I will be careful."**

**"Why didn't you go back home," the second man in the room asked in a whispered voice.**

**"I couldn't… I owe you, Rath… I owe both of you my life. You helped me to escape… after sixty years…" Rahn lowered his head, as he remembered his many torturous years in captivity. "I owe you my life… both of you. I cannot abandon you now. You would not have been caught again if you had not been protecting me… helping me to escape, too."**

**"Can you get us out of here?" Michael asked.**

**"It will not be without danger."**

**"Danger I can handle," Michael said. "It's better than what happens in here. I don't know how you survived sixty years in here, Rahn. I'd be dead now if Zan… if Max… hadn't been here to heal all my wounds… after each session with Doctor Vulture and Agent Stoneheart."**

**"Those are strange names for humans," Rahn said stoically. **

**"They're not names, Rahn," Michael said… "They're… descriptions. Show us how to get out of here!"**

**"Follow me… Do exactly what I do. We will have to avoid the lasers in the long hall. At the end, we will go left… then I will lead you."**

**"How did you get past the guards," Michael asked. "Won't they be looking for us?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Did they see you?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Then how…"**

**"I became a large serpent… an anaconda, I think you call it, to protect myself from the first one."**

**"Did you… kill him?"**

**Rahn was silent for several moments, as he led them further down the hall, zigzagging just as he had on the way here.**

**"Did you know, Rath, that a serpent like the anaconda can go for many months without eating after it has ingested a large meal?"**

**"You… you ate him?"**

**Rahn smiled slightly. "No. I had to change back to a human form to remove his clothes so that I could take them to put on the next guard. Perhaps it will confuse our pursuers and slow them down somewhat… though it will not slow them down for long, I am certain. I merely restrained him… as I did the other guard. The first guard will have some broken ribs… but he will live. The other one may have a broken jaw. However, it would have been better for you if I had eaten them. As it is, they will be found, and they will talk… and because of that, the others will be hunting for us. It is inevitable."**

**"Could you have eaten them?" Michael asked with a certain curious fascination.**

**"Certainly," Rahn replied. "But then I would have had to hide somewhere for several months until they were digested before I could change back from a serpent into a human again."**

**"Sorry I asked," Michael said. "Max, we need to find Maria and Isabel. We don't know how badly Isabel was wounded."**

**Max turned to Rahn… "Did you hear anything about the army looking for Maria or Isabel? Do you know whether they escaped or not?"**

**Rahn shook his head. "I've been watching. They have not shown up in town or in any of the places where they might be expected to be if they had escaped from the base. But they also do not appear to have been found by the army."**

**"I felt that that was the case," Max said. "Agent Stoneheart kept telling me the gruesome details of how they were recaptured and he dissected them… but that only made me more certain that they hadn't been found, because he would not have been able to resist showing me what he had done… if he had anything to show me. He never had anything… It was just talk. Also, I've had strange feelings… I don't know how to describe them… like I was needed and had to help in some way. Sometimes… I felt like someone was… this sounds crazy, I know, but… tapping into me somehow and using my power. You lived on Antar, Rahn. Is that possible… to tap into another person's power?"**

**Rahn was silent for several moments, then he nodded slowly.**

**"It's possible, Zan. It's not likely… but it's possible. Your Grandfather once healed a man… through a 'source.'"**

**"What's a source?"**

**"A person who is capable of making a connection with another person in some way and sharing their power with them in order to do something that must be done… when the other person is not present or able to help. There were probably no more than five known successful sources on Antar, Zan. There certainly cannot be any on Earth."**

**"How does one get to be a 'source?'"**

**Rahn shrugged. "That is not known. Perhaps they have inherited the talent… or perhaps it came to them spontaneously…"**

**"Spontaneously… due to need…?"**

**"Need… Intense psychological desire… overwhelming empathy… or love…"**

**"Max, do you think Isabel is tapping into your healing power to heal herself," Michael asked.**

**"I don't know. Somebody is using me, though… I feel it."**

**"They cannot," Rahn said… "unless you allow it."**

**"I feel like I'm needed," Max said. "How could I not allow it?"**

**"Still," Rahn said, "it is unlikely that Isabel would be able to use your power to heal herself. If she is hurt badly enough to have a need that desperate, I doubt that she would be able to call on your power… even if she were a source. And if she is not hurt so badly… it is unlikely that she would be able to make a connection… because the need required would not be there. It would almost have to be another person… one who has the need but who is not desperately injured themselves and can summon the energy needed to make the connection."**

**"Maybe it's all just my imagination," Max said. "I've been poked and prodded and cut so much lately that… I'm not sure what is real and what is not any more, Rahn."**

**"I understand," Rahn said quietly. "I was there."**

**Max looked at Rahn and nodded. "Sixty years… How, Rahn? How did you keep your sanity?"**

**"I didn't," Rahn said smiling.**

**Max and Michael both looked at Rahn questioningly.**

**"I set my mind free… several times… so that it could roam far away from here. One might say that I went… insane at those times. But it was to protect myself."**

**"The insanity defense," Michael said with a weary smile.**

**Rahn nodded. "Yes… yes, you might call it that… The insanity defense. That would be an accurate description."**

**                                     ************

**Somewhere inside area 51, in an unfinished army tunnel several hundred feet below the mountain, Isabel had begun to shake again. Maria wrapped her tightly in the tattered piece of a blanket she had found and held her to try to stop the shaking, but it wasn't helping much.**

**"I'm… slipping…" Isabel mumbled softly. "I… can't hold on, M'ria."  
  
  
**

**"You've got to, Iz… We need you." Maria looked at the blanket. The bleeding had started again. Isabel's back was drenched. Maria unwrapped the blanket and removed the band she had put around Isabel to keep pressure on the bullet wound. The wound had grown larger… it was infected now… and it was bleeding profusely.**

**"Let me go, Ma… M'ria. I'm dying anyway. I'm jus' hold'n you ba'. Get yourself 'way f'm here." Isabel's voice trailed off. Then she took a ragged breath and closed her eyes. Maria waited for her to open them again… And she waited…**

**"Iz? IZ!" Maria placed her hand under Isabel's nose. She was not breathing. Quickly, Maria started to give CPR, the way she had once been taught in a Health and Safety class she had taken… but after several minutes had passed, there was still no response.**

**"Dammit, Isabel," Maria said, swallowing the salty tears that filled her eyes and ran down onto her lips and into the corners of her mouth, "You are not leaving us! Not now! Not after all we've been through together here. Max! I need you! Oh God, I need you, Max! Help me! Please!"**

**Maria pressed her hands over the wound, and her hands glowed softly. She jerked them back…**

**"On top of everything else… this damned place has made me radioactive, too. I'm probably killing Isabel every time I touch her."**

**Maria pressed her hands to the wound again. "Come on Isabel… This helped before! You've got to come back!"**

**Maria's hands glowed again, a bit brighter this time, as the stream of blood slowed to a trickle… then stopped altogether.**

**"I'm sorry," Maria said, taking her hands off of Isabel and collapsing onto the ground. "I let you bleed to death, Isabel. I guess there's no more blood for you to bleed. You needed me, and I couldn't help you." Maria put her face into her hands, laid her head on her knees, and began to sob.**

**"I'm so sorry, Iz. I really tried. I hope you know that. I know we weren't such good friends in high school, but… I guess adversity really does bring people together. After what we both went through, you and me, Iz, I feel like I've lost a sister… No, more than a sister. I hope you know that, Iz! If I ever get out of here, I'm never going to forget you… What we went through together in there… how we helped each other… how we cried with each other… how we comforted each other. You're part of me now, Iz. You're in my heart forever. I won't forget that. Not ever! I wish I could have helped you when it mattered." **

**"You must have done something right," a soft voice said. A hand reached under Maria's chin and lifted her face up, and Maria stared into Isabel's eyes. She was smiling. **

**"I don't know what you've got, girlfriend, but whatever you did, you should bottle it and sell it. Ever since I got shot back there when we were escaping, every time you touched my wounds they felt a little better for a while. It just wasn't enough. But this time… I don't think even Max couldn't have done much better. I don't know how you did that, Maria, I don't… but you did it… somehow."**

**Maria looked at Isabel's back. The wound was almost gone. It had stopped bleeding. And there was no longer any sign of infection. Isabel's fever was gone… so were the chills and the shaking. But most importantly, she was alive.**

**"I didn't do that, Iz. I couldn't. I think these tunnels have made me radioactive. My hands glowed every time I touched you. Maybe the radiation is what healed you." **

**"Isabel looked at Maria's hands and held them in hers. "They don't look radioactive to me, Maria. You have a healing power. You did that. You… not radiation."**

**Maria looked at her hands and at Isabel. She hadn't seen Isabel looking like this since before Isabel was shot when they were escaping. Isabel had barely spoken after she was shot… until now. There was no denying that Isabel was a new person… almost her old self again. If she wasn't completely healed, she was well on her way to being. And she was clearly out of any immediate danger. But that might still all be for nothing if they couldn't find a way out of these tunnels… without being discovered in the process. Maria knew that if they were caught and returned to the place where they had been held before, neither of them would stand a very good chance of surviving what would be waiting for them.**

**                                   ************

**Back in town, most people were going about their daily lives, unaware that a life and death struggle was playing out at that very moment for three unfortunate human-alien hybrids, one alien shape-shifter, and one human girl only a few scant miles away. Nor did they know that at Roswell General Hospital, a teenage boy and girl lay unconscious, sucked into the same drama that threatened the lives of the alien hybrids. Like any other day, doctors walked the halls, checking on their patients, nurses went about their rounds, patients came and went, an orderly walked down the hall and stopped at the door of one of the rooms…**

**The orderly looked around then let himself into the room and looked at the patient, briefly checking her chart. "Elizabeth Parker." She appeared to be sleeping, but she had been hooked up to an IV for hydration and to keep her electrolytes in balance. Except for that, there really did not appear to be anything wrong with her. She appeared healthy. She was paralyzed below the waist, but that wasn't obvious as she lay sleeping on the hospital bed.**

**The orderly looked around then closed the door behind him. Then he took out a hypodermic needle that had already been filled and walked over to the IV line. He took one last look at the angelic face sleeping on the hospital bed and prepared to plunge the contents of the hypodermic into the IV line. Then something strong gripped his arm like a vise. Surprised, the orderly swung around to face Sheriff Jim Valenti.**

**"Where did you come from? I… I didn't hear you come in."**

**"I know. What's that you've got there? I didn't see any injections prescribed on Miss Parkers chart. What's in it?"**

**The orderly shook his head. "It's just vitamins. She needs vitamins."**

**"We all need vitamins, son," Jim said. "I'll tell you what. You take this dose, and I'll have the nurse find some more for Miss Parker."**

**"I can't do that."**

**"Oh, sure you can. Here. Give me the needle. I know how to give these things."**

**The orderly made a feeble attempt to escape, but Jim had him firmly by the wrist of the hand that was holding the hypodermic. Jim took the hypodermic from the orderly's hand and looked at it. **

**"Vitamins, huh?"**

**The orderly nodded.**

**"Roll up your sleeve."**

**"No!"**

**"What are you afraid of?"**

**"Nothing. I'm not afraid."**

**"Good. Roll up your sleeve."**

**The orderly twisted quickly and pulled loose from Jim, who did not attempt to catch him as he fled through the door and ran head on into Deputy Hansen. Hansen spun the orderly around, pushed him against the door, and handcuffed him.**

**"Good work, Hansen," Jim said. He held the hypodermic up. "I'm going to have this checked out. If it's anything but vitamins, this guy's in a world of hurt. Take him down and book him… on suspicion of attempted murder… resisting arrest… and… we'll see if there's anything else."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**Deputy Hansen led the orderly out of the room, leaving Jim alone in the room with Liz. Jim looked at Liz and, feeling that it might be a little cool in the room, pulled the cover sheet up over her, then he turned to leave.**

**"Thank you."**

**"You're welcome." Jim turned around and looked at Liz. "Did you…?"**

**Liz opened her eyes and smiled. **

**"You're awake! Liz, you don't know how relieved I am… or how happy your parents are going to be. Where were you? What happened to you?"**

**"I don't think you'll believe me, Sheriff."**

**"Try me."**

**"Okay… Alex and I were on Antar. The orbs did something that sent us there… well, our DNA code, not our bodies. Then it recreated our bodies there and put our consciousnesses into them. Do you believe me so far?" **

**"No."**

**Liz's smile faded.**

**"Yes, I believe you, Liz. I really do. It sounds incredible, but so has a lot of what I've seen."**

**Liz smiled again. "Sheriff, have you checked on Alex? You need to check on Alex. He should be awake, too."**

**"I checked on him twenty minutes ago. He was fine then. I'll check on him again when I leave you to see if he's awake now, too."**

**"He is."**

**"Traveled together, did you?"**

**"Yeah. It was a two for one travel opportunity, Sheriff. You know how it is, when you have to just drop everything and fly."**

**"Yeah… but I've never been to another planet, Liz. That's kind of extreme. By the way, I have your orbs. I'll bring them back to you when you're out of here. Doc found them down between you and Alex and picked them up. He thought they were Indian souvenirs, and I took them to keep them safe for you till you were back."**

**"Thanks, Sheriff… again. I don't know why some woman hasn't come along and put a rope around you, Sheriff."**

**"Well, you were away, Liz, and I didn't know if you were coming back, so I had to marry someone else."**

**Liz smiled. "Yeah, right."**

**"Oh, you don't believe me? What? You think nobody would marry me?"**

**"No, no, I didn't mean that… I mean who wouldn't… well, not me, of course, I'm in love with Max, but… you know what I mean… Sheriff, what did you mean you had to marry someone else?"**

**"Amy and I tied the knot while you were away, Liz. I guess she threw that rope you were talking about around me."**

**"Are you kidding me, Sheriff? You really…! Omigod! Congratulations! That's so great! How did it happen? When did it happen?"**

**Jim laughed. "All in good time, Liz. There'll be time to tell you everything. We're going to have a more… formal… wedding, anyway, at some later date… when Maria can be there."**

**Liz smiled again. "Thanks, Sheriff."**

**"For what?"**

**"For believing that Maria's alive. You need to check on Alex. Please make sure Alex is okay."**

**"I'm going, I'm going!" Jim smiled. "Welcome back, Liz. I'll call your folks right away… see about getting you out of here… but they'll be here in about an hour anyway. They're here every day during all the visiting hours… and any other time I can sneak them in. I'm going! I'll check on Alex."**

**Jim left and went to Alex's room. Opening the door, he found Alex sitting up in his bed.**

**"I hear you and Liz took a vacation on Antar, Alex. Next time leave a note and tell us where you went or leave a forwarding address, how about it? Maybe an e-mail address… on Earthlink or something!"**

**"Liz told you, huh? What else did Liz tell you?"**

**"Just that. Is there anything else she should have told me?"**

**"No. But if she starts talking about me wearing women's undies and stuff… don't believe a word of it, Sheriff."**

**Jim smiled. "I wasn't aware that they had spring break on Antar, Alex. You should have told me."**

**Alex grinned sheepishly. "Sheriff, just between you and me, that girl may look deceivingly innocent, but take my word for it, she can be a spring break all by herself."**

**Jim nodded. "She got you back with one of your own jokes, huh? It must have been good. I wish I'd been there to see it."**

**"I'm glad you weren't. Sheriff, when can Liz and I get out of here? The nurse says I have to stay until the doctor checks us out, but there's nothing wrong with me."**

**"Well, you could try telling them that a pair of alien orbs recreated your body on another planet with your DNA and put you into it, that you celebrated spring break there, and that you returned… I haven't heard that part of the story yet. Just explain it to them."**

**"I see your point, Sheriff. They'd lock me up. Alright. I'll wait until the doctor checks me out. That WILL be today, right?"**

**"I'll see what I can do… after I let your parents know you're back among us. Did you bring me a T-shirt, Alex?"**

**"A wha… from Antar? You know what, Sheriff, we did buy some clothes while we were there, and we wound up leaving them. We left so suddenly we forgot them."**

**"Yeah, those cheap flights are like that. You have to grab the seats when they're available or you lose 'em."**

**Alex nodded. "I'm glad you understand."**

**"Well, I'm really happy… and relieved… that you and Liz decided to come back home, Alex. I've got some work I've got to take care of, so I'll talk to you more later… maybe you can tell me more about that Antarian spring break stuff."**

**Alex grinned. "Catch you later, Sheriff."**

**Sheriff Valenti left Alex's room and walked down the hall to the lobby. As he walked out the front door of the hospital, he saw that something was going on. Deputy Hansen was crouched behind his squad car with his gun drawn. The orderly was lying on the ground behind him, by all appearances, quite dead. Everywhere, people were crouched down behind cars or had run behind other cover. But nothing was happening. It was almost like a painting… no sound, no motion, nothing. Jim looked around quickly then rushed to the side of his deputy.**

**"What happened?"**

**"Somebody shot at us as I was bringing him out, Sheriff. One shot… to the head… sharp shooter. I'm okay, but the orderly's dead."**

**Jim looked at the body lying behind them. "How convenient… for someone. Hansen, what is it about that little girl in there that scares the bejeebers out of the U.S. Army and the FBI? Huh? That's what I want to know! What is it that makes these people unable or unwilling to rest until she's dead? She's just a young girl! A teenager! A sweet, innocent little girl who just graduated from high school. She's not a terrorist! She's not the head of a crime cartel or Ma Barker! She's not a drug runner or a foreign agent trying to destabilize our country! She's never hurt anyone… She wouldn't hurt a fly! And she's in a wheelchair! Tell me, Hansen, what is it that these assholes think is so dangerous about this little girl that they won't rest until she's dead… that they're willing to kill me or you to get us out of the way… or this orderly, to keep him from talking! Can you please tell me that!"**

**Hansen shook his head. "I don't know, sir. But if I had to bet, I'd say you're going to find out."**

**"You'd win that bet, Hansen! I'm going to be all over somebody until I've got some answers! And you can fv@k!n quote me on that."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: What the Army knows.**


	14. Dreams13

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Book**

**Chapter 13**

**XIII******

**T****he sergeant standing guard at the guardhouse peered into the vehicle, appearing to size up the man and woman inside. It was the official vehicle of the Roswell Sheriff's Department, but it might as well have been a carload of tourists from Kansas wearing Hawaiian shirts and cameras around their necks, a lost group of revelers on their way to party in Vegas, or a carload of bearded Saudi's with bulging robes for all the sergeant seemed to care.  **

**"Sorry, sir. No one is allowed on the base without proper authorization." **

**"I understand that, son," Jim said softly, "But I'm the sheriff, and I have official business with General Hawthorn."**

**"General Hawthorn isn't on the base right now, sir. He's away."**

**"Then I'll see General Hawkins… Please."**

**"Sorry, sir. Regulations…"**

**"I know all about regulations, son," Jim said. "I've written my share of them. Why don't you call the General on that phone over there and tell him I'm on the way in. Get his permission if you need it."**

**"Sorry, sir. The General doesn't like to be bothered unless it's an emergency or unless it's someone he's expecting."**

**Jim looked at Amy and sighed.**

**"You could do what I did," Amy whispered.**

**"What's that?"**

**"Floor it and leave the guard in the dust."**

**"Oh! Right! Judge Lewis would love that! We both get shot!"**

**Amy nodded. "Yeah… they did shoot my car to pieces."**

**"We'll think of another way," Jim said. "There's more than one way to skin a cat… or a sergeant."**

**Jim looked at the sergeant, sizing him up in turn, then he turned to Amy and said, just loudly enough for the sergeant to hear,**

**"We could go above the General, I guess… inform Washington about the alien…"**

**Amy put her finger over her lips. "Shhh. Lower your voice, Jim. The guard may hear you."**

**"What was that?" the guard asked, leaning into the driver's side window.**

**"Nothing," Jim said.**

**"You said something about the alien."**

**"You must have heard wrong," Jim said. "I said the, uh, the daily run…" **

**"Yeah… of the local newspaper…" Amy added. "That's what he said."**

**"No he didn't," the sergeant said with conviction. "He said something about 'the alien.' What do you know about the alien?"**

**"Sergeant," Jim said, his eyes seeming to flash with anger, "There are no real aliens!" Jim looked around, as though making sure they were alone and no one else was listening. Then in a lowered voice, he said, "You're asking me about classified information, sergeant… information that was intended for the General. I don't think your asking about it will go over well with the General. I can't tell you anything else, and I strongly recommend that you forget that this conversation ever took place!"**

**The sergeant swallowed, momentarily unsure how to proceed, then he looked Jim and Amy over again.**

**"I'll let General Hawkins know you're on your way in, Sheriff. A small contingent of army vehicles will meet you on the way and escort you to the General. You are to stay with the convoy. Do not attempt to leave it or you will be shot. Is that clear?"**

**"Perfectly, sergeant." Jim gave the sergeant a quick salute then slowly drove off down the road leading to the base. Once they were out of sight of the guard, Amy leaned over and kissed Jim.**

**"What was that stuff about an alien, Jim?"**

**Jim grinned. "This is Roswell… There's always an alien, Amy."**

**Amy smiled. "You were brilliant, Jim! We work great together!"**

**"Yeah… I was, wasn't I?" Jim grinned and looked at Amy. "You were pretty brilliant yourself. How'd you get to be so sneaky?"**

**"Never mind," Amy said with a smile. "Just don't forget it."**

**                             ************

**As fate would have it, General Hawkins was on the phone in his office at that very moment with the budget makers in Washington.**

**"General, it's not just you. All the budgets are being scrutinized," the voice on the other end said, only half apologetically. "Congress and the Senate approved a higher budget than last year, but they aren't going to increase it as much as most of you would like. You have many unusual expenses."**

**"This is area 51, Senator. We're going to have unusual expenses. It's expected."**

**"I know that, General, but you are still answerable for what you spend. For example, what's this item called "ADL Disaster Preparedness Plan?"**

**"That, Senator, is not negotiable. I assure you it's absolutely essential for the protection of this base and our ongoing operations."  
  
**

**"What is ADL? Some kind of terrorism?"**

**"That's… a pretty good description of it, Senator. Yeah."**

**"Well… the President has approved a fair amount of special funds for that… Maybe we can get it for you. Six million dollars isn't so very much in the total budget, but it's a lot for a single item such as this."**

**"Necessary, Senator. Believe me. That woman…"**

**"What?"**

**"That, uh, MOMENT… when we receive the funding… we will be able to protect ourselves and this base from any future unexpected incursions that might destabilize our existence here."**

**"Yes, well, just try to keep an eye on things from the viewpoint of the budget makers up here, General. You're not exempted from budgetary constraints just because you're in Roswell."**

**"Understood, Senator. I'll keep my eye on it."**

**The phone line disconnected, and the General hung up. Then he smiled. "I'll keep my eye on it. Six million dollars should be enough. See if you can get back on this base now, Miss Amy DeLuca!"**

**The General sat down and lit a cigar then leaned back in his chair. As he began to puff, there was a knock on his door.**

**"Enter. It's open."**

**"Sir," a young corporal said, "The informants are here… about the, uh… you know…"**

**"Send them in, Owens."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**The Corporal motioned, and Jim and Amy walked in. General Hawkins looked up and inhaled his cigar then began to cough violently. Finally, he managed to spit the cigar out onto his desk, then he struggled to get it onto an ashtray, but not before it had made a burn mark on the top of his highly polished desk.**

**"Those things are bad for your health," Jim said. "Are you okay? You appear ill."**

**General Hawkins' face had become several shades lighter than usual, and at first, he did appear to be ill. Then his face began to turn red, and he looked like he might have a stroke.**

**"I don't think cigars agree with you," Jim said. **

**"Sheriff, I'm not going to die from smoking cigars," General Hawkins managed to say. "This woman will give me a coronary before that ever happens."**

**"Amy?"**

**General Hawkins wrinkled his nose and made an obvious effort to calm himself, probably realizing the truth in what he had said to Jim.**

**"You told my men that you had information, Sheriff… about the alien. What information do you have?"**

**Jim shook his head… "I'm sorry, General. Somebody must have misunderstood. I'm looking for information, not giving it."**

**General Hawkins glared at Jim with a look of disbelief. "Sheriff, I'm not the information bureau. I don't have any information to give you on any subject. If you have no information to give me, then this meeting is over. I'll have my men escort you back off the base… and her." He motioned toward Amy.**

**"I want to know why the Army is interested in that little girl," Jim said, getting right down to brass nails… "What do you want from Liz Parker?"**

**"I don't know what you mean, Sheriff. The Army has no interest in any citizens here whatsoever. Is this girl someone to you, Sheriff?"**

**"You could say that."**

**"Well, it doesn't matter, because we don't have any interest in her, as you suggest. I don't even know who she is."**

**"You're not a very convincing liar," Amy said, picking up a file folder from the General's desk before he could stop her. The label on the lip said "Parker, E." This was no guarantee that this particular file was about Liz, of course, but the General's reaction left little doubt. He almost leapt over his desk to get the file back before she could open it.**

**"That is a private, confidential file, Miss DeLuca!"**

**"It's Mrs. Valenti now."**

**The General appeared to be genuinely surprised, but only momentarily. Then he continued…**

**"If you had opened that file, Miss DeLuca… Valenti… whatever… I would have had to shoot you. And that is not a cliché, Mrs. Valenti. That is a fact!"**

**Amy swallowed slightly. Somehow, she sensed that the General was not bluffing this time. He was deadly earnest. That file was for his eyes and his eyes only. The General sat back down and opened a drawer with files in it under his desk. Then he placed the Parker, E. file into the drawer with other files. Having done this, he pressed a button on his intercom and called the corporal back in.**

**"Corporal, escort the Sheriff… and his wife… off the base. If they try to lose the escort or try to return… shoot them. Is that understood?"**

**"Yes, sir." The corporal turned to Jim. "Let's go."**

**"Sorry, Jim," Amy said after they were off the base. "I didn't mean to get us kicked out. Now we don't have anything."**

**"We have plenty," Jim said. "We know he's got a file on Liz, and we know it's highly classified. That in itself speaks volumes. And you didn't get us kicked out, Amy. General Hawkins would have kicked us out anyway. He was prepared to do that as soon as he found out we had no information for him."**

**Amy smiled. "Yeah, but I had hoped to learn more from him."**

**"We'll just have to take what we can get," Jim said. Then he grinned. "Besides, I didn't come away with nothing, Amy. The General left his passwords filled in on his computer screen. It timed out and went dark while we were standing there talking to him, but I memorized it as soon as we went in."**

**Amy smiled. "You can hack into his computer!"**

**"Mmm hmmm, well, maybe. I'll have to get past the system… and maybe a firewall or two. I may need some help for that. But once I'm in, I've got the passwords."**

**"Passwords? Plural?"**

**"Yeah… Looks like he's double password protected."**

**"What are they?"**

**"Blow1em-up. And 54321Zero."**

**Amy looked at Jim and shook her head. "Why does that not surprise me, Jim?"**

**Jim pulled the SUV up to the front of the Sheriff's Department and went inside quickly with Amy. He powered up the computer and sat down in front of it. **

**"Where do I start?"**

**Two hours later, Jim stopped typing and looked at the screen. He read. Then he read some more. Then he whistled softly.**

**"What? What did you find," Amy asked, running back to his side.**

**"The Army's been doing research on Liz's DNA, her medical background, and… her genealogy. They've traced her genealogy back more than… ten thousand years? I don't think that's even possible."**

**Amy looked at the notes. "It looks like a lot of it is pieced together from conjecture. There's no solid data to go on. Why would they go to all this trouble? What's back there in Liz's past that the Army is worried about… ten thousand years ago? Talk about statute of limitations that never run out! That poor girl! Scroll down, Jim. I want to read the rest…" **

**                                  ************

**Back on the base, three people were making their way through the dark tunnels under the mountain.**

**"I didn't know the Army had all these unfinished tunnels," Michael said. "I thought when we got out of the compound, we'd be out in the open somewhere on the base."**

**"We could have done that," Rahn agreed. "But the soldiers would have spotted us above ground. These unfinished tunnels go on for miles and miles in all directions. The mountain is riveted with them."**

**"I can see that," Michael said. "Where do they go?"**

**"Some of them go around in circles… some go to the other side of the mountain… some go nowhere, they merely end at what you call a death end."**

**"Dead end," Max corrected.**

**"Isn't that the same thing?"**

**"It kind of means the same," Michael said, "but we're used to the term 'dead end.' What you said sounds more like what it really could be, and we'd rather not think about it that way."**

**Rahn nodded. "Well, if we choose the right tunnels, we can dig through a layer of soft dirt about eighteen feet and be inside a natural cavern. The cavern will take us off of the base, and we should be able to come out after the sun goes down without being seen."**

**"How did you find this out," Michael asked. "Won't the Army be expecting us to try that if it's the only way out?"**

**"They don't know about it," Rahn said. "I obtained a map of the tunnels by shape-shifting to look like someone who would not be noticed on the base. I compared the map of the tunnels –the finished ones and the unfinished ones- to a geological map from your library. The tunnels mostly go in circles or to death… dead ends… or to other installations on the base. A few of the unfinished tunnels appear to be uncharted. If my calculations are correct, though, there is one place… only one… where we can break through into the cavern. We will have to dig through about eighteen feet of dirt, but it is not hard or very stony."**

**"We can do that," Michael said. "But what about Maria and Isabel? We don't know where they are?"**

**"And what will they have done to Liz," Max wondered aloud sadly. "I heard Liz survived but is in a coma. I need to be there to protect her… if they haven't killed her already. She's vulnerable."**

**"She's alive," Rahn said. "And she is no longer asleep. She is awake."**

**Max looked at Rahn and broke into a wide grin. "She's awake? I knew I felt something! I knew it!"**

**"She cannot move her legs, Zan. She must move in what you call a wheelchair."**

**Max grimaced, then he nodded. "We can deal with that. I can heal her… maybe… probably… but even if I can't, we can deal with that. She's alive, Rahn! You know what that means? She's alive!"**

**"Yes… and that may cause concern to the Army, Zan. She will be in great danger."**

**"I know. But why? What the hell does the Army care about Liz? I understand why they want to kill us. We're just aliens to them… but why Liz? She's an all-American girl… about as innocent and harmless as it's possible to be. It's all because of me, Rahn. Her life is in danger because of me… because she loves me. That's not fair."**

**"Maybe there is another reason, Zan."**

**There was silence for several long moments, then Max asked… "What reason, Rahn? What do you know that I don't?"**

**"I told you I was on the base looking for the map of the tunnels… I also saw some other things. I was especially interested in a file I saw that spoke of the book."**

**"What book?"**

**Rahn sighed. "Unfortunately, Zan, you would not know. You never received it. You only received the Destiny Book."**

**"You mean there was a second book?"**

**Rahn nodded. **

**"The ship that crashed in the 1940's carried the Destiny Book and a companion book, titled, Planet Under Siege: An Alternate Destiny. The warders managed to save the Destiny Book, but the Book Of Alternate Destinies, as it was known, could not be found in the crash in time, and the Army found it later in the crash debris. In it are actual pictures of you, Zan, and of you, Rath, and of Vilandra and Ava… from Antar… and the prediction that despite the efforts of the Antarian scientists, you might not end up following the destinies that you were programmed to follow. **

**This prediction was based partly on the 'vision' of an ancient hermit from a distant planet called Jeroglasst. Because of his visions, our scientists decided to do a linear life projection… that's a sort of scientific aging of DNA to determine expected progression patterns… and some of the tests suggested an outcome that agreed with what the ancient seer had predicted. Because of this, the scientists thought it prudent to include the predictions in writing for you to read when you came out of your pods… but they were not convinced of their certainty to the extent that they were ready to present them as fact. Rather, they included them as hypothesis and theory in the second book. **

**The U.S. Army succeeded in translating the book over the years since the crash, but the translation is flawed. The translators assumed that 'Planet Under Siege' meant Earth… and that 'An Alternate Destiny' was what the Antarians intended for Earth. So you see, basing their translation on this preconceived notion, the army has determined that all of Kivar's atrocities on Antar are… our plan for conquering the Earth. **

**But there is something else. The ancient seer saw a new queen in the flowing of the river of time, a queen who would be born on Earth of Earth parents but whose lineage would be discovered to go back to Antar thousands of years before. This new queen would die and be 'reawakened' by the new king Zan, after which some of her Antarian powers would be reawakened, and one day she would wipe away the final vestiges of the previous realm and help bring about a new presence on the planet. It meant an end to Kivar's lingering influence after his bloody rule… and a new peace on Antar under your rule, Zan, but… the Army believes that it means the end of human rule on Earth. **

**The predictions of the seer were emphatic in their assertion that this new queen's abilities… and her influence on you, Zan, would be singularly important… and that without her, you would not fulfill your destiny to return as king, and the hope to take back the planet would fail…"**

**Rahn looked at Max as though to emphasize what he had to say next… "The Army's translation, Zan, notes that Liz Parker is the key to conquering the Earth."**

**tbc**

**Coming next: Judge Lewis returns with treachery. Yeah, I know! I've said that the last two chapters! I guess I can't see into the River of Time as well as the Drax-ta-Kiya of Jeroglasst can. I can't pin down the time so precisely. But the judge hasn't been sitting by idly. He's been waiting for his chance. And the Army needs him to facilitate this particular operation for them. It's fortunate indeed that Liz and Alex have returned to their bodies, but the danger, especially to Liz, is still incalculable. The Army and the FBI have every intention of wiping out or neutralizing the threat to our world… that basically means Liz, Max, and Michael, and to be safe, Isabel and Tess (who is not with them yet in this story). The Special Unit agents of the Army and FBI can be ruthless and efficient… and they cry no tears.**


	15. Dreams14

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Out Of The Frying Pan…**

**Chapter 14**

**XIV******

**J****udge Lewis locked the door to his office, checked the locks on his window, and drew the shades, then he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his desk to go through some papers. He wasn't accustomed to taking such draconian measures, but the last thing he wanted was to be surprised again by the Special Unit "creeps" in his own office. This way he could at least expect some measure of peace and comfort in knowing that he was safe from unwanted intrusions.**

**In the past week or so, a lot of paperwork had piled up on the judge's desk. He had had more pressing matters on his mind. But now he had time to clear up some of the backlog. Quickly reviewing a couple of liens and a divorce decree, Judge Lewis turned around and opened his file cabinet. He dropped the papers into a file labeled, "completed business" then turned around to his desk again. It wasn't there. Judge Lewis paled, as his eyes rose slowly, following the black pants legs then the black suit coats, up to the stern, rock-hard faces looking down at him in his chair. **

**"How… how the… how the hell did you get in here? My door was locked. My window's locked."**

**The agents didn't answer. Judge Lewis glanced at the door and windows. They were still locked. The shades were still pulled. He tried to swallow, but his throat was too dry. They had moved his desk, and they were standing right in front of him… all without him even being aware that they were there. The thought crossed Judge Lewis' mind that they must have already been in his office before he locked it up, hiding somewhere… but he couldn't imagine where anyone, much less three of them, could have hidden without him seeing them. It scared him. Seriously.**

**"Horace, haven't we been paying you enough? What can we do to get your attention?" one of the agents finally said in a voice that sounded more like a threat than a question.**

**"I'm… I'm fine. I mean… you've paid me plenty…"**

**"Well, see, Judge, that's what we were thinking, too, but we don't seem to be getting anything back from you."**

**"I've tried. Believe me, guys, I've tried to get rid of the girl for you. Sheriff Valenti is always in the way. You know I'm no fan of Jim Valenti… and what you do with the Parker girl… Hey, that's your business. She's only trouble for me… and for this town."**

**"I'm glad you feel that way, Judge," the second agent said, "because you have another chance coming up… Oh yeah, I'm supposed to tell you, it's your last one."**

**Judge Lewis tried again to swallow, but his throat muscles would not cooperate. Other muscles seemed more obliging, however…**

**"Do I hear water running?" the first agent asked.**

**The third agent nodded toward Judge Lewis and stepped back a couple of steps. The first agent looked at Judge Lewis' pants leg and right shoe, which appeared to be filling up with water, and wrinkled his nose but said nothing.**

**"Judge," the second agent said, picking up the conversation, "The Parker girl and that boy that's with her are going to be leaving the hospital today."**

**"Well, I'll stop them," Judge Lewis replied. "I'll keep them there. You can have your guy at the hospital do whatever he's going to do… I don't want to know anything. Just make sure it looks… natural… that I'm not implicated."**

**"Now Judge, what makes you think anything is going to happen to them? We didn't say that."**

**"I… I didn't mean that anything bad was going to… I just meant… I just… I meant that I trust you. I'll do whatever you want to keep them there."**

**The agent shook his head. "Too late for that. Our guy at Roswell General was… let's say, compromised."**

**"Deceased," the first agent added.**

**Judge Lewis tried again to swallow, but his throat was still too dry. All the moisture seemed to have already gone elsewhere, following the path of gravity.**

**"No, Judge, we don't want you to keep them there. We have another plan for you. Don't screw it up."**

**                                    ************

**After successfully hacking into General Hawkins' computer and reading the notes he had on Liz, Jim Valenti rushed back from his office to the hospital. He wanted to be there when Liz and Alex were released, and he already knew that was going to be after the doctor saw them at 6 PM. It was 5:45 now. Jim parked his official vehicle outside the entrance and met Deputy Hansen, then he and Amy went inside with Hansen, walking quickly down the hall to Liz's room. The doctor was just finishing his checkup, and Jeff and Nancy Parker were with them.**

**"You look… perfectly healthy, Liz. I don't know why you and Alex were in a coma."**

**"I told you, Doc, we were just asleep. We were studying for midterm exams… well, Alex was. I was helping him study for his exams… and we… I guess we just went to sleep. We were very tired. You know how we teenagers push our limits, Doc. I guess that's what we did. We just exhausted ourselves and went to sleep."**

**"Well, Liz, I've never seen anyone just go to sleep and nobody be able to wake them up for three days before. But all my tests have found nothing that would explain it, so I have to put down that you passed out due to… sleep deprivation. I'm not sure I believe that, but it's the only answer I have for now. We've tested both of you exhaustively, and…"**

**"And we're both fine, right?"**

**The doctor shrugged. "It looks like it. I'm releasing you both. I checked Alex out right before I checked you."**

**Liz smiled.**

**"Hello, Jeff… Nancy," Jim said. "I guess you get to take Liz home now."**

**Jeff smiled. "Yeah. I'll feel a lot better when she's back home, Jim. Hi, Amy."**

**Amy smiled at Jeff and took Nancy's hand. "Hi, Jeff."**

**"I know. I will, too," Jim said. "The Whitman's are with Alex. Hansen and I are going to accompany you home. I'll escort you, and Hansen will escort the Whitman's. I figure an official presence may help to discourage any… problems along the way… not that there should be any, but just to be safe."**

**"Thanks, Sheriff." Jeff patted Jim on the arm.**

**"You ready to go, Liz," Jeff asked. Liz nodded.**

**A nurse walked into the room pushing a wheelchair. "I'll take you out to the car, honey."**

**Jeff picked Liz up and put her into the chair, and the nurse pushed it out into the hall and then down toward the lobby. As they passed Alex's room, they heard him complaining.**

**"I'm fine. I don't need to sit in a wheelchair."**

**"I know," the nurse said, "but it's hospital policy. We wouldn't want you to go to sleep again and fall over and hit your head before you got outside the hospital."**

**"Is that medical sarcasm," Alex asked.**

**The nurse smiled.**

**"Come on, Alex," Liz said. "Sit in the chair. Let's get out of here."**

**Alex grinned and nodded slowly. "Alright… if it'll get me out of here any sooner, I'll sit in your chair and let you push me."**

**Alex's nurse pushed him out into the hall beside Liz.**

**Alex looked at Liz and grinned. "You want to race?"**

**"Young man!" his nurse said sternly. The nurse pushing Liz's chair tightened her grip on Liz's chair intuitively, just in case Liz decided to accept Alex's challenge.**

**"Just a little wheelchair drag race down to the lobby?" Alex asked the nurse, winking at Liz.**

**The nurse raised her eyebrows and gave him a mortified look. Liz giggled.**

**"I'd win," Liz said quietly, with a smile. "I've had more practice."**

**"Young lady!" Alex's nurse said, with a bit of exasperation. "Please do not encourage him."**

**Liz winked back at Alex and sighed dramatically. "I'll be so glad to get back home. This place is no fun at all."**

**"None at all," Alex agreed.**

**The nurses pushed the two chairs out of the hospital and left them momentarily with Jim, Amy, and Hansen, while they waited for Jeff and Nancy and the Whitman's to bring their cars around. **

**Jim smiled at Alex and Liz. "You two should be ashamed of yourselves."**

**Jeff pulled up with Nancy, and the Whitman's pulled up right behind them. Jeff got out and opened the door then picked Liz up to put her in, but before he could, somebody shut the door.**

**"Sorry, can't let you do that," a voice said.**

**Jeff looked up to see Judge Lewis standing there. Jim grabbed Judge Lewis brusquely by both arms and forcibly moved him aside. Already angry with Judge Lewis for so rudely closing the car door as he was putting Liz in, Jeff glared at the judge.**

**"Judge! What the hell do you think you're doing? I'm putting Liz in the car! Open that door back!"**

**"No you're not," Judge Lewis said. "I've got a court order… Read it yourself."**

**Jeff placed Liz back into her chair and swiped the paper out of Judge Lewis's hand. His face turned red, then pale, then red again.**

**"You're crazy," Jeff said. "You think I'm going to allow you to do this?"**

**Jim took the paper and read it.**

**"Horace, you have no authority. I'm the sheriff here. You're a judge. You're not the sheriff… you're not a deputy… you're a judge. You're out of your jurisdiction here.**

**"Well, see, that's why I brought these guys with me," Judge Lewis said, snapping his fingers. Immediately, six burly state troopers stepped up, and two of them took hold of the two wheelchairs.**

**"Dad?" Liz said, her voice shaking slightly with genuine fear. "Sheriff? …What's going on?" **

**Alex was already out of his chair, but one of the troopers shoved him back into it. "Sit down, son. Don't try that again."**

**"Try what?" Alex asked. "I just stood up!"**

**"Well, stay sitting down."**

**"Horace, I'm still the law here," Jim said sternly. "Unless you can show me something that says I've been removed from that job, I cannot let you do this." Jim took Liz's chair back from the state trooper forcibly.**

**"I thought you'd say that, Jim. I couldn't get the council to go along with removing you again… after the last time. Don't think I didn't try. But I got the next best thing… an order placing these two children's welfare in the hands of the state court. It's out of your jurisdiction, Jim. The order states that they are to be delivered to the mental health facility in Long Junction… today."**

**"That's 300 miles from here," Hansen said.**

**Judge Lewis nodded. "Jim, you are hereby barred from having any further contact with either Miss Elizabeth Parker or Mr. Alex Whitman."**

**"I'm staying with my daughter," Jeff said.**

**"Me, too," Nancy nodded in agreement.**

**"Sorry," Judge Lewis said, shaking his head. "The order bars you or the Whitman's from having any further contact with your children pending further review and/or until they've been rehabilitated."**

**"REHABILITATED?" Amy said loudly, her voice mirroring her feelings. "What do they have to be rehabilitated from? Judge, you need to be rehabilitated, not these kids! They haven't done anything wrong. I've got a feeling you couldn't say as much for yourself."**

**"Chronic drug use," Judge Lewis replied.**

**"Oh, you can't make that stick," Jeff said, incredulous, tearing the order up and throwing it on the ground. "Nobody will back up that cockamamie accusation!"**

**"They already have," Judge Lewis said. "We have at least a dozen witnesses who have either bought drugs from them or sold drugs to them. And we have their hospital record… unexplained comatose…"**

**"Not unexplained," Jeff said. "They were tired. That was the diagnosis."**

**Judge Lewis snorted. "Tired? And they slept for three days? What kind of diagnosis is that?"**

**"It's the official diagnosis," Amy said. "Read it yourself, you sleezebag."**

**"Who says these two ever sold or bought drugs," Jim asked.**

**"Witnesses," Judge Lewis replied smugly.**

**"Where did you find these witnesses?"**

**"That's not your concern, Jim. I found them. That's all you need to know."**

**"Judge, if there's a hell, you're going to rot in it," Amy said. "You know these two never bought or sold drugs. Any witnesses you have, you had to have paid them."**

**"You've got a sharp tongue, Ms. DeLuca. But I'm in a forgiving mood today. Be thankful."**

**"Horace," Jim said, "even if it were true that they were involved with drugs –and it's not!- you would have no reason to become involved unless they came before you in your court. You're a judge. Arresting them would be my job, not yours."**

**"Would you arrest them, Jim?"**

**"Hell no!"**

**"Well."**

**"Why are you involved in this, Judge, that's what I want to know. Why are you going to all this trouble?"**

**"For the benefit of our town's peace and honor, Jim. I have a responsibility to this town. I'm on the City Council. I'm a decent, law-abiding citizen, Sheriff! I want our town to be clean and free of this kind of thing."**

**"Don't make me gag," Amy said. "You're a crooked, conniving, thief… and that may very well not be all."**

**"You're pushing my good will, Ms. DeLuca!" Judge Lewis said, scowling at Amy. "I'd be more careful if I were you!"**

**"Judge, do you have an order to send me to jail?"**

**"No."**

**"Then suck it in! You can't touch me! Jim is the sheriff here. You'd need an order from the state court to do anything to me, and you don't have it!"**

**"That may have merely been an oversight, Ms. DeLuca," Judge Lewis said, his frustration with Amy mounting and his face reddening visibly.**

**"I'm sure it was," Amy said. "But until you've got a court order, you'll keep your distance!"**

**"And if I get a court order?"**

**"Just try laying your hands on me."**

**Judge Lewis swallowed. Something about Amy intimidated him, but he didn't know why.**

**Judge Lewis motioned to the state troopers. "Put them in the van. Take them to Crestview."**

**The troopers took the handles of the chairs, but Jim placed himself in front of them.**

**"Sorry, gentlemen… I can't let you do that."**

**"Jim, if you stand in the way of a legal state court order, you can be removed from office… no matter what the Council votes. It would be my duty to file charges and have you removed."**

**Jim's face turned uncharacteristically red, as he realized that he was over a barrel. If he stood his ground now, Judge Lewis would have him removed from his job for cause… and he would not be in a position to help Liz or Alex at all. And as much as it hurt Jim, he knew that the odds were against him here, even if he and Hansen were to shoot it out with these guys. They were seriously outnumbered. Besides, this fight was with Judge Lewis. Jim wasn't sure who these troopers were… they were probably merely doing their job. And then again… that might be the angle he needed to stall this…**

**"Judge," Jim said, "as the sheriff of Roswell, it is my sworn duty to defend all the citizens of this town. I don't know these men that you brought here. I would like to see some credentials, and then I will need to make some calls to verify who they are before I can allow them to take any citizen of this town out of Roswell."**

**"Oh, for God's sake, Jim! They're state troopers! Look at them! They're wearing trooper uniforms!"**

**"Anyone can get a trooper uniform if they've got connections, Judge… maybe even if they don't. I am sworn by law to protect our citizens."**

**"He's right," one of the troopers said. "He has that right."**

**"Well then show him your ID!" Judge Lewis said. The troopers all took their ID's out and showed them to Jim.**

**"Okay," Jim said. "I hope you guys will understand if I make some phone calls."**

**The troopers looked at each other and nodded. Judge Lewis huffed. "How long is this going to take, Jim?"**

**"A few days… maybe a week."**

**"No, no! You'll do it right now!"**

**"I have to be in my office to make official calls," Jim said.**

**"He's right," the first trooper said.**

**"Well, then… go with him!" Judge Lewis growled… "so you can take custody as soon as he gets his verification."**

**"We'll have to go with you," the first trooper said to Jim. Jim nodded, then he looked at Liz and Alex apologetically. The look on his face told Liz all she needed to know. Jim was out on a limb. He was holding the match till it burned down to his fingertips… but in the end, the flame was going to go out.**

**tbc**

**Coming next: Jim and Amy try to save Liz and Alex; and Max, Michael, and Rahn find the place where they can dig their way out of the tunnels.**


	16. Dreams15

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Tunnel Of The Bats**

**Chapter 15**

**XV******

**M****aria looked down the dark corridor of the unfinished tunnel in both directions…**

**"What do you think, Isabel? Don't you have some kind of gut feeling… some kind of alien psychic thing or something… about which way we should go here?"**

**Isabel shook her head wearily. "No," she said after a few moments reflection and without any pretensions. "I just don't know."**

**Maria sighed with genuine frustration. "Okay, then, let's go… right… no, left! We go left."**

**Isabel nodded. "Left is good." She reached down and picked up a small object from the ground. It was a pop top from a soda can or perhaps a beer can.**

**"Somebody was here," Isabel said. "Looks like it was a long time ago, though. It's rusty… or maybe just coated with… something. It's changed color." She dropped the pop top back onto the ground and kicked it with her foot, scuffing the dirt with her shoe.**

**The two girls turned into the bisecting tunnel and followed the left route. It seemed that the corridors had become increasingly damp and dusty since Maria and Isabel had left the larger, developed parts and entered the unfinished tunnels. The developed tunnels were huge corridors. Trucks, even tanks, could drive through some of them, and there were rooms off to the sides… but these tunnels were a far cry from those. Some of these were barely big enough to stand up in… and they were damp and dingy. Maria wondered who had gone through this mountain digging all these tunnels and why they never finished them all.**

**After an hour of walking in the new tunnel –sometimes crawling, in places where the ceiling was too low- the girls stopped to rest. Maria sat down on the ground then noticed something in the dirt beside her.**

**"Another pop top."**

**She handed it to Isabel, and Isabel looked at it, then she looked at the ground beside it. There was an unmistakable scuff mark on the ground. She buried her face wearily in her hands.**

**"We've been walking in a circle, Maria. This is the same pop top I kicked over an hour ago."**

**Maria swallowed silently, as she looked at the scuff mark on the ground and the pop top in Isabel's hand. She knew Isabel was right. For a moment, Maria almost felt a pang of desperation, but she quickly shut it out, replacing it with a plan that came as fast as the feeling of desperation had fled.**

**"Okay, then, this time we go the other way… and we mark our trail. If we start seeing any of our marks again, we backtrack and find another route… any other route."**

**Isabel nodded.**

**Unknown to Maria or Isabel, about two miles away, in a larger but equally unfinished tunnel, Max, Michael, and Rahn were also searching for a way out. The one difference was that, with Rahn's help, they had an idea where they were going and how to get there.**

**Max sat down on a rock in the tunnel, as they stopped momentarily to assess their position. He looked at Rahn hesitantly, as though he wanted to ask something but was afraid. **

**"Rahn… do you have any feeling about Maria or Isabel? I mean… Do you think they're both alive… both okay? Isabel may have been hurt when she was escaping. I keep seeing her over and over in my mind, and I can't stop thinking about it… but I can't let it keep us from finding a way out of here. I can't help any of us if I can't get us out of here or if we're caught again."**

**Rahn shook his head slowly. "I can't tell if they're alive or not. But I thought you could."**

**"Well… I can… sometimes," Max admitted. "I can feel Isabel sometimes, but I stopped feeling her at all for a long time. I didn't want to say anything, because I was afraid that… that she had died. But I felt her again a little while ago."**

**"Is she alright," Michael asked, immediately concerned. "Is Maria alright?"**

**"I don't know," Max said, nervously tossing a small rock into the middle of the tunnel. "Not for sure anyway. Isabel seems stronger now. Her aura was giving off a very weak feeling before… then I couldn't detect it at all… for a long time… but now it seems to be back and stronger than before."**

**Michael smiled. "And Maria?"**

**"I can't really feel Maria the same way, Michael."**

**Michael's smile slowly faded again.**

**"But I can sense something in Isabel that suggests she's not alone or desperate or frightened the way she might be if something had happened to Maria. I can't say for sure, but I believe Maria's okay… at this moment."**

**Michael nodded, taking note of the words: 'at this moment.' Michael understood all too well that in a split second and without any warning everything could change for any or all of them.**

**Rahn stopped suddenly and put his hand up, cautioning Max and Michael to be quiet. He listened. Then he turned back to Max and Michael.**

**"Did you hear something, Rahn?" Michael asked.**

**"I thought I did. But now I don't hear it."**

**"Could you tell what it was?"**

**"Soldiers."**

**"How can you tell," Max asked.**

**"The sound their feet make… but… I don't hear it now. Maybe they're outside the tunnels."**

**Max nodded. "Well, we need to be moving anyway. We have to find the place where we can dig out of here."**

**"Right," Michael agreed. "Let's get the hell out of this place… the sooner the better."**

**As Michael stood up, the eerie silence in the tunnel was suddenly shattered by the sound of a rifle being fired nearby. In the confines of the tunnel, the single shot sounded almost like an atomic explosion, and it echoed repeatedly from every direction… Max and Michael both dropped to the ground and rolled against the walls. When they looked up, Rahn was gone.**

**"Did you see where that came from," Max asked Michael quietly.**

**Michael shook his head. "I think it came from down that way. Keep your head down, Max. Somebody out there wants to blow it off."**

**"Where'd you get that idea," Max asked, crawling over to Michael on his stomach, keeping his head low.**

**"Just a hunch."**

**"Where'd Rahn go?" **

**Michael shook his head. "I don't know. I dropped to the ground and rolled. When I looked up, he was gone."**

**"Yeah, same here." **

**Max looked up suddenly, as a bat flew low over his head then ploughed into the dirt like a crashing fighter plane. As they watched, the bat began to grow and change form.**

**"Rahn!" Max and Michael both whispered at the same time. "Where were you?"**

**"I went to see who was shooting at us," Rahn said simply. **

**"Did you see?" Michael asked.**

**"Yes. There is one soldier behind that bend over there. Behind him there are four more. Much further down the tunnel, not very close yet, there are at least two dozen soldiers… coming this way."**

**"Crap!" Michael said. "We need to get out of here before the others get here, but with this guy holding us down, we'd have to crawl away on our bellies or get our heads blown off."**

**"I think I can distract them," Rahn said, closing his eyes and concentrating. As he did, Max and Michael head noises, sounds of running and a few curses. Max looked at Rahn quizzically.**

**"They were attacked by a large number of bats," Rahn said simply.**

**"You can call bats?"**

**"No. I made them think they saw them. It is a kind of mind warp. But it works just as well sometimes. Let's go… while they're occupied."**

**Max and Michael jumped to their feet and ran with Rahn, leaving the soldiers who had been pursuing them ducking and running back the way they had come, swatting and cursing at a thick swarm of imaginary bats. After about thirty minutes, Max, Michael, and Rahn slowed their pace somewhat.**

**"Do you think they're still following us," Max asked.**

**Michael nodded. "I'm sure of it. They'll follow our footprints now that they've seen us. We'll have to work fast."**

**"Which way?" Max asked Rahn. Rahn pointed down the corridor to the right. **

**Michael nodded. "Okay, then let's make footprints down the left tunnel a ways and come back and wipe our footprints away in the right tunnel as we go down it."**

**"Won't they know what we did and come back and go down this tunnel when the footprints run out suddenly in the other one," Max asked.**

**"Not necessarily," Michael replied with a grin. "Watch and learn, Max."**

**After the three had walked about a hundred feet down the left tunnel, Michael took his hand and wiped some of the footprints away, making it obvious that they were wiped away.**

**"They'll think we're erasing our tracks, so when they don't see them anymore, they'll keep going this way."**

**"Okay," Max nodded. "And what happens after they've gone a ways further and still see no more tracks?"**

**Michael thought about this a moment. "Rahn, could you turn into a bat again?"**

**Rahn shrugged. "Sure. Why?"**

**"Fly down the tunnel about two hundred feet then leave some more footprints so they'll find them and think we're still headed that way. Then fly back. It'll look like we erased our tracks for a while, but then they'll pick them up again. Maybe that'll confuse them for a while."**

**Rahn began to shrink… then black, leathery wings sprouted from his sides. He leapt into the air before his legs had completely shrunk to bat-sized, changing the rest of the way into a bat in mid air, then he flew off down the tunnel. A couple of minutes later, he came flying back again. This time, instead of making a head over heals landing in the dirt, he perched upside down on the tunnel ceiling then morphed back into a man… hanging from the ceiling with bat feet."**

**"Lovely," Michael said. "Don't you think you'd better change those?" He pointed at Rahn's huge, bat-like feet.**

**"Help me down first," Rahn said. Michael and Max helped Rahn flip over onto his feet. By the time his feet touched the ground, they looked completely "human" again… shoes and all.**

**"I found out bat's can't land on the ground without humiliating themselves," Rahn said.**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah, you looked ever so much better hanging there from the ceiling with big bat feet."**

**"A lot less painful," Rahn replied. "Let's go."**

**On this last part, at least, Michael and Max were in total agreement. All three headed off down the right hand tunnel, carefully removing their footprints behind them with power blasts from their hands until they were far enough in so that the footprints wouldn't be readily seen. Then they hurried in the direction that Rahn had indicated. Several times, Rahn told them which way to turn into a new tunnel, and each time, Michael took a moment to make it appear that they had gone down the other tunnel… or left footprints in both tunnels.**

**Then Rahn stopped.**

**"Are we there?" Max asked hesitantly.**

**"We're here," Rahn confirmed. "We need to dig eighteen feet through this wall right here. Can you do that?"**

**Michael smiled and held up his hand. A blast from his palm removed about two feet of dirt and debris from the wall. Max went next, blasting another two feet into the soft dirt of the tunnel wall.**

**"Any questions," Michael asked, looking at Rahn smugly. Rahn shook his head. "Just hurry. My bats will not fool the soldiers for very long. I just hope it will be for long enough."**

**Michael blasted another four feet out of the tunnel wall, and Max, not to be outdone, blasted four feet of dirt out after him. **

**"We should be almost through," Max said. "You want to give it a double whammy, Michael… both of us together? Punch it out?" **

**Michael grinned. But before they could blast the final six feet of wall out, they heard noises coming their direction in the tunnel behind them. Rahn shoved Max and Michael down to the ground.**

**"They're coming. The soldiers…"**

**"Damn," Max said. "We were almost through. Can you make them get attacked by bats again, Rahn?"**

**Rahn shook his head. "It is unlikely to be effective again. Stay down. I will see what I can do."**

**"Try the big anaconda thing again or something," Michael said. "Scare the hell out of them."**

**Rahn leapt into the air and changed into a bat then flew off down the tunnel in the direction of the noises they had heard. Max and Michael both stayed on the ground, keeping their heads low, remembering what had happened before. And they waited. For a long time, they heard nothing. **

**"Shouldn't we check and see if Rahn is okay," Max asked.**

**"Give him a little while more," Michael said. "He may be having to digest his… prey."**

**Max grimaced. "You think?"**

**Michael shrugged. They lay there a while longer, and as the time passed, both Max and Michael began to succumb to the effects brought on by insufficient sleep and days of walking and crawling in the tunnels. Neither Max nor Michael was willing to let himself go to sleep right now, even for a few minutes, but both found themselves resting their heads on their arms… and fighting to stay awake… as they waited for Rahn to return.**

**Neither Max nor Michael was aware of having dozed off, but the next thing they were aware of was the sound of footsteps beside them. Both of them jerked their heads up suddenly to discover someone standing over them… and it wasn't Rahn.**

**"Well, isn't this cute! Here Isabel and I are busting our butts trying to find a way out of this place… and getting shot… and we find you guys all cuddled up together taking a cozy nap. I might have known!"**

**Michael's mouth dropped open. "Maria? Maria!" Michael leapt to his feet, no longer feeling tired. "Isabel! Are you okay?"**

**Max was already checking Isabel's wound. He pressed his hand to the partially healed wound on her back, and his hand glowed momentarily.**

**"That feels better," Isabel said. "But I wouldn't be here if it weren't for someone else who healed me most of the way already."**

**"Someone else healed you?" Max asked.**

**"Maria," Isabel said with a nod toward Maria. "I still don't know how."**

**"My Maria? This Maria?" Michael stammered in amazement. "How?" he asked, looking at Maria.**

**"I don't know, either," Maria said. "Every time I touched her wound, it just seemed to get better… and my hands glowed. I thought it was radiation poisoning from the tunnels, but Isabel told me that your hand glows like that when you heal someone, too, Max."**

**Max nodded. "I felt someone sourcing my power. Were you calling on my power to heal, Maria?" **

**"Actually, I was cursing you for not being there to heal Isabel yourself," Maria said matter-of-factly… "especially when I thought she was going to die."**

**"Interesting," Max mumbled, raising his eyebrows. "I'll have to remember that method. I guess the emotional stress you were under channeled you to me when you thought of me… I'm glad it worked."**

**"No more glad than I am," Isabel said. "Have you guys found a way out of here?"**

**"Yeah. We're waiting for Rahn to return. Where is Rahn?" Max asked, looking at Michael. "He should have been back by now."**

**"He went to see how close the soldiers are," Isabel said. "We saw him in the tunnel, and he told us where to find you."**

**"Well, at least he didn't eat you," Max said.**

**Isabel looked at Max and raised her eyebrows.**

**"Never mind," Max said. "He can turn into a huge anaconda. You had to be there, I guess."**

**Isabel nodded. **

**As they spoke, a bat flew over their heads and changed into a cat in mid-air. The cat fell to the ground on its feet and morphed back into a man.**

**"Interesting landing method," Michael said.**

**"Cats land on their feet," Rahn replied… "but it's still not a perfect solution."**

**"Try a bird," Max said.**

**"What?"**

**"A bird. Try changing from a bat into a… a sea gull or something when you land. Sea gulls can land without injuring themselves."**

**Rahn nodded. "A sea gull… A sea gull! Yeah. That could work!"**

**"Hey, that's what I'm here for," Max said. "Any time you need morphing advice…"**

**"Psh," Maria waved her hand at him. "How about getting us out of here!"**

**"I can do that, too!" Max said. "Michael? You want to give me a hand?"**

**Max and Michael both raised their hands, and a blast of power went out from each of them, demolishing what was left of the wall. As the dust cleared, everyone stared through the hole at the other side. **

**"There it is," Max said, breaking the awed silence. "Freedom."**

**tbc**

**Coming: Alex and Liz struggle with their situation and discover why Judge Lewis and certain elements in the army really wanted them sent to Crestview. Jim Valenti searches for a way to help Liz and Alex without conspicuously ignoring a state court order. And Max, Michael, Rahn, Maria, and Isabel find themselves in a new place with new concerns and mysteries… and some old ones.**


	17. Dreams16

The Night The Dreams Died 

**New Surroundings**

**Chapter 16**

**XVI******

**"A****lex!" Liz cried plaintively, her voice breaking and her emotion obvious as the door to her room in the Crestview Mental Health facility was closed, separating her from her only comfort. She was alone.**

**"Don't worry, Liz… I'll be here…" Alex's voice trailed off, as Liz's door was closed, locking her in her room. Liz sat in her chair for several minutes, asking herself if this was the way it was all going to end for her… locked in an insane asylum… perhaps murdered… after everything they had been through… and bringing Alex down with her. No, she couldn't let that happen. Not to Alex. He didn't deserve this. Liz moved herself from her wheelchair onto the edge of the small, white bed and looked around at the room. It was stark, no windows, devoid of any color, devoid of any joy, miserable… just like her. She put her face in her hands and began to cry, but after a moment, she raised her head again, steeled her resolve, and dried the tears.**

**"I am not letting them get the best of me. They can shoot me, condemn me to life in a wheelchair, lock me up in some God-forsaken hole with only bare walls to look at… but they can't take my mind and soul… they can't take who I am. I still control that!" She looked around the small room again and swallowed… "If someone wasn't insane already, this place would send them there pretty quick!"**

**Liz breathed a deep breath and resolved to keep her sanity no matter what. "I'll have to find ways to entertain myself… escape in my mind. But maybe that's what insanity is… escaping in one's mind. No… it's only insanity if one forgets how to get back to reality. I still have to use my mind to keep my sanity."**

**In another room, equally stark and joyless, on the next floor up, Alex looked at the white, bare walls that surrounded him. Even the clothes he and Liz had been given to wear were white. Everything was so… sanitized. Alex hated it! He wished he had his guitar… or a book. Any book! Heck, even his old Biology textbook from Roswell High would be welcome right now. At least it would be something to keep him company. One can escape into the pages of a book… But there was no book… only the white walls, the small white bed, the white, loose-fitting clothes…**

**"I'll never be able to wear white again," Alex moaned to himself. "…assuming I ever get out of here." He sat down on his small bed and thought. "I have to help Liz… but how? Who's going to help me? I have to get out of here." Alex stood up and walked around the small, stark room, looking at the walls of his prison as though perhaps he might find a hidden door just waiting to be opened by a magic touch. But there was none to be found. "They can't leave me in this room alone forever. Someone has to bring me meals… I hope. At least the food should have some color! No… It'll probably be milk and cottage cheese!" Alex shook his head and groaned.**

**Meanwhile, in the Sheriff's Office in Roswell, Sheriff Jim Valenti sat at a table with Deputy Detective Dave Cotter.**

**"I brought you here because I need a special kind of person, Dave. This is a very sensitive assignment. I've spent some time reviewing your personnel files, your original application, your references, your psychological reports, everything about you, even when you were a kid, and the bottom line is, I think you're the person I can trust for this job."**

**Dave shrugged. "I'm here for you, Sheriff… all the men are. None of us would intentionally let you down."**

**"I know," Jim said with a nod. "But this assignment is particularly sensitive. It's going to require an unusual degree of level-headedness, stability, psychological stamina, and well… loyalty."**

**"Like I said," Dave insisted, "any of the guys…"**

**"Any of the guys would be willing," Jim nodded. "But you have what it takes. Do you want to accept the assignment? I'm sorry I can't tell you what it is before you've accepted it. It's a security thing. I can tell you, though, that it will mean you going undercover for several days… maybe weeks… maybe longer… And during that time, life may not be easy for you."**

**"I'm sworn to loyalty, Sheriff… sworn to uphold the law. I didn't apply to be a deputy or a detective to get out of the hard work."**

**Jim nodded. "That's why I chose you." Jim plopped a file down on the table and opened it.**

**"Some of the things you're going to see in this file, Dave, are privileged information… very sensitive information. It goes to the highest levels of the security of our nation. Even the state police are not aware of this information."**

**"How did you get it, sir?"**

**"Through… sources… I can't reveal at the moment. But trust me when I say that only a few army generals and some special forces operatives are aware of the information in this folder. It is not public knowledge, and it must stay that way."**

**Dave Cotter nodded. "You know you can count on me, sir."**

**"Yes, I do," Jim agreed. "That's why you're here at this table now. Dave, how do you feel about extraterrestrial life?"**

**"You mean like ET, sir? Aliens from other planets?"**

**"Yyyeah… sort of."**

**Dave shrugged. "I've never seen any." He smiled. "But if I can be totally honest, sir, I think this universe is too big and too complicated to assume that we're the only life in it."**

**"That's a sensible answer," Jim nodded. "You see, Dave, I have a little more information than you do… and I have seen them… some of them."**

**Dave looked up. The surprise in his eyes was obvious. Jim looked at Dave's face for several long moments, attempting to gauge his reaction. Would Dave's face reveal disbelief, distrust, doubt? All Jim could see was surprise.**

**"You see, Dave, some of these 'aliens' look just like us, and they're here… in Roswell."**

**Dave smiled for a moment. "Okay, you… you're not pulling my leg, right, sir?"**

**Jim shook his head. "You remember what happened at graduation, Dave?"**

**Dave nodded, and his smile disappeared. "A real tragedy. Those kids were just starting their lives. They didn't deserve to die like that. They had every right to live their lives out seeking the all-American dream…"**

**"Or the all-alien dream," Jim interjected. "Why do you think special forces operatives from the Army shot them, Dave?"**

**"Well, sir, the official report said that the agents had been drinking heavily and thought they were on a mission back in Viet Nam."**

**"Viet Nam was a long time ago, Dave. Didn't you ever wonder about that?"**

**Dave nodded slowly. "Yes, sir. I have to admit… I have wondered a lot how this could have ever happened… and why the Army kept everything so secret afterwards… and why the men were only court-martialed and the public was never allowed access to them or to their trial. But you can't ask the Army what they don't want to tell you… and I guess it's none of my business."**

**"Well, I'm making it your business, Dave. Those men were never court-martialed. And there are no bodies in those kids' graves."**

**"I heard rumors of that, sir… but some of the men said the bodies were there. You moved us all further away when the coffins were opened. I thought I saw bodies, too. I didn't think it was any of my business if you didn't want to tell us what you found."**

**"I'm making it your business now. The graves weren't empty… but what was in the coffins were high-tech, very realistic, how can I say this… mannequins… fakes."**

**"Where were the real bodies?"**

**"That was the mystery, Dave… that, and the other big question…"**

**"Why," Dave said for him.**

**"Bingo!" Jim nodded. "Exactly. Why. Why remove the real bodies and replace them with fakes? And the answer that I found was that they may not be dead after all."**

**"But… didn't you see them… the bodies… after they were shot?"   **

**"I did. And except for the Parker girl, they were all dead. I assumed that the Army took the bodies to dissect them… study them."**

**"Okay… but why… what do they care about a few high school kids?"**

**"That would be a very puzzling question, Dave, except for one little piece of information that I had that most others didn't. Max and Isabel Evans and Michael Guerin… were not from around here."**

**"Yes, sir, I know. They were found in the desert and adopted when they were little. No one knew where they came from. But even if they were Mexican children, we don't dissect Mexicans… that I know of… We give them drivers licenses, maybe… We don't dissect them."**

**"Mexicans, no. aliens… yes… I gather," Jim said.**

**Dave looked at Jim for a moment. "You're not referring to, like, Mexican aliens, are you, sir?"**

**Jim shook his head.**

**"I didn't think so." Dave Cotter was quiet for several moments. "That's a lot to think about, sir."**

**"Yes it is," Jim agreed. "Do you want out?"**

**"No sir! No sir, I didn't mean that. I committed to this. I'll go through with it, whatever it is. It's just… wow!"**

**"Yeah, I guess that's a good way to put it," Jim said. "You're in this too far to back out now, anyway, Dave."**

**"I know. I'm in, sir."**

**"Okay."**

**"Was the other girl who was killed… uh, Maria DeLuca… one of them, too…" Dave asked, then his eyes flitted toward Jim as a sudden realization hit him. "She's… she's your stepdaughter." **

**Jim nodded. "Yes, she is. And no, Maria's not one of them. She's from this planet. So is Liz Parker, the girl who survived."**

**"What would the Army want with them then?"**

**"They're… the girlfriends."**

**"Aliens have those?" Dave asked, surprised. Then he shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, I just, I can't get ET out of my mind… or ALF."**

**Jim grinned. "Well, you will. You watch the wrong TV, Dave. Think Starman or The Visitor." He shook his head and smiled… "ALF! Michael would love that!"**

**Dave shrugged slightly. "Should I watch those shows, sir?"**

**"No need, Dave. I'm having you committed to Crestview."**

**"That's a little radical, isn't it, sir? I never really believed ALF was real."**

**Jim smiled. "Did I say he wasn't real?"**

**"No, sir."**

**"Don't worry about it. You're going to meet the real thing… I hope. But first you're going to do me… and them… a big favor."**

**"You want me to spring the Parker girl from Crestview?" Dave Cotter asked.**

**"Not spring her… not yet anyway," Jim replied. "Just protect her… and her friend, Alex Whitman. I need someone on the inside there… someone no one there will recognize. You've never been on TV or associated with any high-profile cases. I'm hoping no one there will know who you are and you'll be able to keep an eye on Liz… and Alex… for me… protect them if need be."**

**"What do they need to be protected from?"**

**"The Army has a special unit… the ones who shot the kids the first time. The FBI has a unit, too, and they may be working together. These guys want to finish what they started. They've made several attempts already on Liz Parker's life. Hansen and I have protected her so far, but now that the powers that be have succeeded in separating her from my protection and my jurisdiction, I think you can see the danger she's in."**

**Dave nodded.**

**"Be careful, Dave. A young orderly at General tried to inject a poison into Liz while she was there. I stopped him. Hansen was taking him in for questioning… but he wound up dead before he could talk. These guys don't take prisoners and they don't hesitate to kill, Dave. Your assignment will be dangerous."**

**"Duly noted, sir." **

**                            ************

**Several hundred feet beneath a mountain on the far side of the army base, five individuals stepped through the hole made by Max and Michael and emerged from the confines of a series of small tunnels dug by the army throughout the mountain into a much larger natural cave. Max and Michael looked around at their new surroundings, and Michael instinctively placed an arm around Maria. Maria smiled and leaned against him. Isabel smiled at Maria, feeling the same relief Maria was feeling, even if Maria had the benefit of a more personal and physical source of comfort at this moment.**

**It appeared that they were standing on a ledge overlooking a very large… and very deep… cavern. They would have to follow the ledge to wherever it went. Max looked at Rahn, and Rahn leapt from the ledge into the void, turning into a bat and disappearing quickly into the darkness. Moments later, he returned, changing into a sea gull as flew back across the chasm.**

**Landing gently on the ledge at Michael and Max's feet, Rahn smiled. "That worked pretty well."**

**"You've got that bat thing down to an art," Michael said, reaching over to pull a white feather off of Rahn's arm. "But you may need to practice changing back from a sea gull a few times."**

**"Ow!" Rahn yelped, as Michael pulled the feather off. "That's not a real feather! It's part of me. Next time just tell me and I'll change it back." Rahn held his arm up, and Michael saw that a piece of skin was missing. Max put his hand over it, and it quickly returned to whatever normal is for a shape-shifter.**

**"Sorry, Rahn," Michael said, "I didn't realize…"**

**Rahn smiled. "No sweat. But I should tell you, the cells in my body are rearrangeable. They flow to wherever they're needed and can get to the fastest whenever I change. That feather was made up of cells from my arm, but you could just as well have been tugging on one of my ears… or the family jewels."**

**Maria snorted, and Michael turned red.**

**"Rahn!" Isabel said with a grin, "where in the world did you pick up such stuff?"**

**"Isn't that the proper term here?"**

**"Well, I think we all understood it, Rahn," Max said with a smile. "It's just not something we'd expect an alien… one who wasn't born here… to say."**

**"Well, I did live on the base, with the army, for nearly sixty years. I learned a lot of your terminology there."**

**"Say no more," Max said, nodding. "Got that, Michael?"**

**Michael nodded. "Yeah, I got it. …Let's get going. We need to find our way out of here."**

**"We should go this way," Rahn said, pointing to the left. It leads deeper into the cave initially, but it takes us away from the army base."**

**"Then that's the way we want to go," Max said. The five began to make their way along the edge of the high ledge. It was perhaps three feet wide, wide enough that they didn't need to hug the wall to keep from falling off… but narrow enough to be very disconcerting. Maria held tightly to Michael's arm, and Isabel found herself, in spite of her normally independent demeanor, holding onto her brother, Max. If the truth had been known, though, both Max and Michael were happy to have the girls holding onto them. It made them feel a bit more secure themselves as they looked down into the deep crevasse. None of them, after all, had Rahn's ability to simply turn into a bat and fly away if they accidentally fell off the ledge.**

**The group hadn't gone more than two hundred feet when the first soldier appeared through the hole Max and Michael had made. He quickly began calling to the others, and within seconds, more soldiers were piling through the hole into the cavern like rats, one over the other, all with guns pointed in the direction of the five escaping friends. Max and Michael hurried the group along the ledge, just far enough ahead of the soldiers that the soldiers could not see them in the darkness to get off a good shot. But it seemed that the soldiers were gaining on them. Michael glanced back. They were. In fact, the soldiers had covered twice as much ground as the five had in the same amount of time. **

**Michael turned to Max… "Max, maybe we should blast the ledge behind us. It would keep the soldiers from catching us."**

**"We may have to," Max said, "but not yet. There's too much risk. We could start a slide or collapse the entire ledge under us… then, too, we'd be burning our bridges as they say. There would be no way back."**

**"We're not going back," Michael said emphatically.**

**"Max swallowed. "I know. We don't intend to… but I'm trying to keep options open… We may wind up having to blast it though, so be ready."**

**Michael nodded. The five friends rushed on along the ledge, picking up their pace, but after a couple of minutes, it became obvious that they were not winning this race. Michael looked back and raised his hand, and as he did, a long section of the ledge behind them crumbled and fell into the chasm below. They watched as the section of ledge dropped… down… down… down… disappearing from sight into the darkness below. It seemed to take forever. A few seconds later, they heard a distant echoing crash, as the ledge impacted the ground somewhere far below.**

**Max looked at Michael. "I was going to say let's blast it, Michael, but I hadn't given the order yet."**

**"I didn't do it," Michael said, looking as surprised as Max at the turn of events. Both of them turned to look at Rahn. "I didn't make it fall."**

**"Well, if Rahn didn't… and we didn't…" Max shook his head, then he looked across the chasm at the soldiers gathering on the other side. Whoever –or whatever– had collapsed the ledge, it had had the desired effect. There was no longer any way that the soldiers could get across to them… and there was also no longer any way that they could go back.**

**                                  ************

**Judge Lewis wagged his finger menacingly at Jim…**

**"Be careful, Jim. I don't know what you're up to… but I know you. You don't just sit back and give up… That's what you'd like me to think you're doing. But you've got something up your sleeve. Well, whatever it is, forget it. It won't work."**

**"I know Judge. That's what I'm doing… staying out of it. I'm following your orders."**

**"Yeah, well… make sure you keep your hissing cat away from me, too."**

**"Hissing cat?"**

**That little snippet you married, Jim. You warn her what she's up against opposing me! She gets all high and mighty with me again, and I'm liable to cut her off at the knees. She's setting herself up for tragedy if she wants a cat and dog fight.**

**Jim nodded thoughtfully. "The weenie dog and the tiger… You could be right. It could be tragic." Then he smiled. "But she'd still be hungry, Horace." **

**tbc**

**Coming up: Alex faces a challenge he never expected as he tries to save Liz; and Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn, searching for a way out of the cave, begin to think that they may have unseen company.   **


	18. Dreams17

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Silencer**

**Chapter 17**

**XVII******

**T****he days had passed slowly, agonizingly, for Alex, like thick molasses that just won't pour from the bottle, since he arrived at the Crestview Mental Facility. He hated just about everything about the place. Okay, maybe that was a bit of an understatement. He hated EVERYTHING about the place. He hated the lack of color, he hated the food, he hated being locked in this small room… The white-suited orderly who brought his meals reminded him of a ghoul with his sickly looking, abnormally pale face and hands. And this was the second orderly he had had in the past nine days since he and Liz had arrived. There was nothing one could do but pass the time with mental exercises. Alex composed songs in his mind. If he couldn't be free, he would at least let his mind soar free!**

**Now, as the tune of another imagined song ran through his mind, a slight noise drew Alex's attention, and he looked up to see the door to his room open. The young, pale-looking orderly entered with a rolling cart. Dinner. The food was covered with banquet-style, spherical metallic lids, each layered with white enamel on the outside; and the cart was covered with a white cloth that reached the floor, hiding any suggestion of color that might lie beneath. Alex stared at the white-clad orderly, the white cart, and the white-enameled lids… and he wondered again where they found orderlies with such pale faces and hands. Then he realized that their faces and hands were probably powdered to make them appear whiter than they were.**

**"Is someone around here colorphobic? What's with all the frikkin' white? What? You can't have a silver lid or… or a brown cart?"**

**The orderly shook his head, without a trace of a smile. "White is soothing, Mr. Whitman. It's neutral. It is more conducive to relaxation… and proper behavior."**

**"I assume by 'proper behavior' you mean 'catatonic stupor,' because if I don't see something with color in it soon that's what I'm going to be in!"**

**"The white will calm you in time, Mister Whitman. You will see."**

**"It'll turn me into a frikkin' vegetable, you mean."**

**Alex lifted the white enamel lid. Beneath it was a white plate, and on the plate were three cloves of cauliflower, a boiled egg, a small bowl of some kind of mush that may have been watery grits, a piece of white bread… with the crust removed… and milk… in a white paper cup. He stared in disbelief for several long moments, then he picked up the boiled egg. This was something new at least. The small end of the shell appeared to have been broken already, and a section about as big around as a pencil eraser was missing from the shell. Alex broke the rest of the shell and peeled it off then broke the egg in half. The yolk was gone.**

**"You sucked the yolk out of my egg?! I don't believe it!"**

**"It wasn't white," the orderly said unapologetically.**

**"It wasn't white," Alex repeated sarcastically. "Of course it wasn't white, you ninny! Egg yolks are supposed to be yellow!"**

**"Yellow induces anger, Mr. Whitman… and confusion."**

**"I'm getting plenty angry NOT seeing it," Alex said plainly. "I want some real food! Today! If I'm going to be stuck in this place, at least you could feed me some real food. A cheeseburger with biggie fries and a chocolate shake would be a good start. Or… or even regular food. Who runs this place anyway? Attila the Hun? If you wanted to torture me, you could just stick bamboo strips under my fingernails!" **

**Alex thought for a second and decided maybe he shouldn't give them any ideas.  **

**"I will be back to take your tray when you're finished," the orderly said with no sign of emotion. "Just leave it on the cart."**

**"What? You're leaving your cart here? You're not afraid I'll lift the cloth and see… COLOR?" Alex asked with a flair of sarcasm. The orderly shook his head slowly, and Alex could have sworn he saw just a trace of a smile. He lifted the cover. "Of course. It's all white underneath. What was I thinking?"**

**"Just leave the tray on the cart when you're finished eating, Mr. Whitman. I'll take it away."**

**"Leave the frikkin' white tray on the frikkin' white cart with the frikkin white sheet that the frikkin' white-suited orderly brought in with the frikkin' white food…" Alex mumbled, more to himself than to the surly orderly. "Go on! Get out! At least let me eat without looking at you while I eat. I'm having color deprivation… something… here!"**

**"It's for the greater good, Mr. Whitman," the orderly said, stepping out of the room and closing the door with more haste than usual just as a yolkless boiled egg impacted the inside of the door.**

**                                          ************

**Forty-five minutes later, the orderly returned. He opened the door cautiously but found Alex sound asleep on his bed.**

**"See Mr. Whitman? You're calmer already," he said quietly.**

**The orderly smiled slightly and wheeled the cart out of the room then locked the door behind him. From there, he walked down to the service elevator, then to the kitchen, where he parked the cart. He returned fifteen minutes later and picked up the cart again. It had been restocked, and the empties and dirty dishes had been replaced. The orderly took the service elevator down to the second floor and walked to one of the rooms. He opened the door with his special key and pushed the cart in.**

**"Mister Lester. How are we today?"**

**"I feel fine, William," the other man replied. "I feel just fine."**

**"You are doing very well, Mr. Lester. The treatments have been good for you."**

**"Yes. I'm feeling fine, William."**

**"Well, I brought you your med's. Here you go." The other man placed the four small pills in his mouth."**

**"You're a real success, Mister Lester. Keep up your treatments and you may be able to leave here one day soon."**

**The other man smiled. "Yes. I feel fine, William."**

**The orderly locked the door back and walked down the hall to the next room, letting himself in again with his key.**

**"It's dinner time, Miss Parker."**

**"I'm not really hungry," a girl's voice said. "I don't think I could eat."**

**"That's a negative attitude, Miss Parker. If you want to ever get out of here, you have to eat your food."**

**"Leave it," Liz replied. "I'll see if I want any of it later."**

**"I'll be back in about an hour, Miss Parker. Just leave the plate and cup on the cart… You can roll that wheelchair over here by yourself right?"**

**Liz didn't answer. The orderly closed the door behind him and locked it. For several minutes, Liz stared blankly at the wall, her mind miles away from her suffocating present existence. But after several minutes, she decided to at least look at the food. Wheeling her chair over to the cart, she removed the lid from the plate. There were two slivers of white cheese, something that appeared to be scrambled eggs, with the yellow removed, a cup of milk, something bleached white that looked vaguely like artificial crab meat… but that was only a guess. Liz sighed and replaced the lid without taking anything.**

**"Pretty disgusting isn't it?"**

**Liz raised her head and looked around. There was no one there.**

**"They've done it," she said to herself quietly. "They've made me start hearing voices… in only nine days."**

**"I could go for a cheeseburger myself," the voice said.**

**This time, Liz lifted the cover from the side of the cart. Nestled comfortably on the support bars beneath the cart was Alex.**

**"Omigod, Alex! What… How…? Alex? Tell me you're real!"**

**Alex painstakingly extracted himself from the support frame beneath the cart and stretched his legs out.**

**"I'm real, Liz." **

**Alex bent down to kiss Liz on the cheek and Liz threw her arms around Alex's neck so tight he was afraid he would be pulled down on top of her in her wheelchair.**

**"I'm happy to see you, too, Liz, but you better let me go. I don't want to fall on you."**

**"The least of my worries," Liz said, letting Alex go.**

**"Yeah! The food around here is definitely problema numero uno," Alex said with a grin. Liz smiled.**

**"Well, it's all we've got, Alex. Like it or not, it'll have to keep us alive."**

**"Maybe not," Alex said, reaching back under the cart and pulling out a couple of hamburgers, some yellow cheese, a couple of soft drinks, and a candy bar.**

**"They eat real food in the kitchen," Alex said with a wink and a twinkle in his eye. "They just don't give it to us crazy people." **

**Liz looked at him then at the cheeseburgers. "How did you get those?"**

**"The same way I got out of my room. I hid under the cart. When it got to the kitchen, I slipped out and looked for some real food then climbed back under the cart. I was hoping they'd get to your room eventually."**

**"But… didn't they notice you weren't in your room? How did you…?"**

**Alex grinned and took two round lids from the lower service tray beneath the crossbars of the cart and placed them on the bed. Then he arranged the cover over them and placed the pillow so that, all in all, it did appear that someone was asleep in the bed under the cover.**

**Liz shook her head. "I don't know how you got away with it, Alex, but…" **

**Alex handed Liz one of the cheeseburgers he had made and a cold canned soda. She smiled and took a bite then took a sip of her drink. Then she closed her eyes for a moment.**

**"You're an angel, Alex! This is just what I needed. YOU'RE just what I needed! Omigod! You're the best! I just love you! You couldn't know."**

**"Well, you could be a little more sure about it," Alex said with a grin.**

**Liz smiled. "Alex, bend over." Liz put one arm around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips.**

**"Woah! Wow!" Alex gasped, finding his breath again as Liz let him go. "If Max really is still alive, Liz, he's going to kill me now."**

**"He'll have to go through me first," Liz said emphatically. "Don't worry, Alex. Max would understand. And if he didn't understand… he'd get over it. He'll understand, though. He'd probably kiss you himself for me."**

**"He better not!"**

**Liz laughed. "Alex, Max will always be my one great love… but you deserved that."**

**"If I'd known, Liz… I'd have bought you a cheeseburger franchise a long time ago…" **

**Liz grinned.**

**Alex broke the candy bar in half and handed Liz half as he took a bite of the other half.**

**"You're unbelievable, Alex. I never know what to expect from you. But I'm SO happy to see you, you just can't imagine!"**

**"No more than I am to see you, Liz, believe me."**

**"How are you going to get back to your room without being discovered, Alex?"**

**"My room? I'm not. I'm getting YOU out of here first chance I get. We'll go somewhere… I don't know… Change our names or whatever… Try to find Max." Alex stopped and swallowed then added softly, "…and Isabel. If she's still alive, too."**

**"I think she is," Liz said. "I can feel her. I don't know how." Alex seemed to take on a new glow, and a smile came over his face.**

**"Alex… getting out of here isn't going to be so easy. They'll realize you're not in your room soon…"**

**"I know… but maybe not till they bring breakfast in the morning. If we escape tonight…"**

**Liz looked at Alex, and she knew that what he was saying was dangerous to the degree of being illogical. But after nine days here…**

**Liz nodded… then smiled. "I'm with you, Alex… all the way. Whatever happens."**

**As they spoke, Alex heard the sound of a key being placed in the lock on Liz's door.**

**"It's the orderly," Liz whispered with a gasp. "He's back early. Hide, Alex! In the bathroom. Quick!"**

**Alex didn't argue. Even though the bathrooms were barely as big as a small broom closet, there was no other place where one could hide. He closed the door of the small room just as the orderly opened Liz's door. The orderly looked at Liz and at the uneaten food on the tray. Liz carefully hid the soda can behind her back in her wheelchair, leaning back against it to keep it out of sight.**

**"You'll never get out of here, Miss Parker, if you don't eat and get well. Why don't you follow the rules? It would be so much easier for you."**

**I don't enjoy gagging," Liz said defiantly.**

**"Suit yourself." The orderly took the cart and pushed it out into the hall then locked Liz's door back.**

**"You can come out… He's gone," Liz whispered. Carefully, Alex opened the door and looked around. Then he stepped out. He had been standing on the toilet bowl. **

**"That's one more thing I hate about this place, Liz… the frikkin' bathroom! It's so small that you have to be a contortionist to close the door when you're on the throne."**

**Liz giggled. "I don't think they expect you to close the door when you're in it, Alex. You're supposed to leave the door open so your legs can have somewhere to go. The door's just for when you're not in there."**

**"Oh."**

**Liz giggled again. "You shut the door? Where did you put your legs?"**

**Alex turned slightly red. "Let's just say there are footprints all the way to the top of my bathroom door."**

**Liz put her hand over her mouth to try to stifle the laugh, but it came out anyway.**

**"Well, I didn't know you were expected to leave the door open. I like privacy."**

**"Well, me, too, Alex. But there are no windows in our rooms… and the door to the room is locked. There's nobody to see. The orderly only comes at meal times…"**

**"Now somebody tells me."**

**"Alex… how are we going to escape? We're locked in."**

**"I'll think of something," Alex said with certainty. "Trust me."**

**Liz nodded. Suddenly, there was the sound of a key in Liz's door again. Liz looked at Alex with panic in her eyes. "Why's he coming back again? Do you think he knows you're here, Alex?"**

**Alex started to run for the bathroom but there was no time. He dove behind the bed and stretched himself out as flat as he could on the floor. Liz stared at her door. It opened, and a man stepped in. But it was not the orderly. This man was not powdered down. He was wearing a white jacket, but under it, he had on something else… military fatigues. Liz gasped. The man looked Liz straight in the eyes for a second, then he reached into his inside pocket and took out a gun and a silencer, which he carefully screwed onto the barrel of the gun.**

**"Are you… are you… going to shoot me… in cold blood?" Liz managed to ask in a hoarse whisper. **

**The man pointed the weapon at Liz's heart, and Alex leapt out from behind the bed. Surprised, the man turned the gun on Alex. Alex slowly moved to the other side of the room in an attempt to draw his aim away from Liz, then he stood there… waiting. The man with the gun stood there, too… staring at Alex… then at Liz… looking deeply into their eyes, as though searching for something. Alex felt a chill run up his spine. He didn't move for what seemed like the longest time. Then the tension was interrupted by a momentary crackle and a new voice…**

**"What's going on, Dan? Have you taken care of it?"**

**The man stood transfixed, still staring into Alex and Liz's eyes, without answering.**

**"Dan? Come back! Answer! What's happening in there? Acknowledge."**

**The man with the gun slowly pulled the walkie talkie on his lapel over to his lips.**

**"I'm in. Subject is posed. There are two subjects now."**

**"Then neutralize them both… and get out."**

**"Acknowledged." The man looked at Alex and Liz again. **

**"Dan? Dan… Klein?" Alex asked cautiously.**

**The man refocused all his attention on Alex. "How do you know me?"**

**Alex was momentarily at a loss for words. The man would never believe him. It would almost be suicide just to try to explain.**

**"Dan!" the voice came over the walkie talkie again. "Finish the job or I'll send someone else in to finish it… someone who will! Now!"**

**Dan lifted the gun, looked into Alex's eyes again, and aimed at Alex's heart. There was a soft whoosh, as the bullet flew through the silencer. Then he aimed at Liz's heart. There was another soft whoosh, and the man turned and left quickly.**

**                                       ************

**A hundred miles away, Max, making his way through the cave with Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn, grabbed Michael's shoulder hard, and his face paled visibly. **

**"What is it, Max?"**

**"Liz," Max said softly. "Something happened."**

**"Is she hurt?"**

**"I can't tell… I'm not sure. I felt her fear. It was there all of a sudden… strong! Then it… it was just… gone. Nothing."**

**Michael looked at Max, and for a moment he wasn't sure what to say.**

**"Maybe she's not afraid any more," Maria offered.**

**"That's kind of what I'm afraid of," Max replied.**

**Michael swallowed. "She may be okay, Max. I mean, you know, you said you weren't sure of anything, right?"**

**Max nodded, but he was clearly not convinced… and he remained pale.**

**"Michael… if something happened to Liz… I don't think I want to go on."**

**"That's your heart talking, Max. Listen to your head. Well, listen to your heart, too… but not when it tells you to give up!"**

**Max nodded. "I know, Michael. I know. But all this struggle that we've been through… I did it all… to be with Liz. There's nothing for me out there without her."**

**Isabel put her hand on Max's face to soothe him. "Don't assume the worst, Max. Liz is strong. She's a survivor."**

**Michael swallowed again. He understood Max's feelings and the depth of his concern all too well. He knew how he had felt when Maria wasn't with them. But now he had her back. He hoped and prayed that Max would be as fortunate. Michael decided to try to change the subject.**

**"We dumped the soldiers, Max. We should be able to travel safely now."**

**"We had some help, Michael. Somebody blasted that ledge between us."**

**"Maybe it just fell, Max. I mean, it's possible… isn't it?"**

**"I guess… but it's not likely."**

**Michael looked around in the darkness of the cave. "Well, I don't see anyone in here but us… now that the soldiers are gone."**

**Max shrugged. "Yeah, me either. Let's move on." **

**Max looked around in the dark one more time. "Michael?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Wasn't the ledge broken off all the way up to that outcrop over there?"**

**Michael looked at the ledge behind them. "I thought it was. I must have been mistaken. You must have been, too."**

**"Yeah… yeah, we must have been. I would swear that that part of the ledge fell down when the rest of it went… but it's still there."**

**"Well, the soldiers aren't," Michael said. "That's the important thing."**

**Max nodded.**

**"You want me to go back and check the rest of the ledge out, Max?"**

**"No. No, forget it, Michael. We were wrong about this section being out. That's all."**

**"I could go back and check it," Rahn said.**

**Max looked at Rahn for a moment then nodded. Rahn leapt from the ledge into the void, changing into a bat again. Then he disappeared into the dark in the direction they had come from. After a short time, he returned, landing at Michael's feet as a sea gull.**

**"What did you see," Michael asked.**

**"The ledge is still there," Rahn said. "All of it."**

**"What do you mean it's still there?" Michael sounded alarmed. "What about the soldiers?"**

**"They're all standing back at the place where we saw the ledge fall. It… it appears that they believe the ledge is gone and have stopped there."**

**"The ledge IS gone!" Isabel said emphatically. "I saw it fall, you saw it fall… We all saw it fall! We heard it fall, too. It's gone!"**

**"No… it's not," Rahn said. "It's still there. But the soldiers don't appear to be able to see it now. They believe that it fell."**

**"Let's get out of here," Max said. "I want to put as much distance between us and that ledge and those soldiers as possible… as quickly as possible."**

**"I'll second that," Michael agreed. "Whatever's going on, we don't need to stand here wondering about it. Let's find the way out of here."**

**Maria and Isabel both nodded they're wholehearted agreement.**

**As the group walked on, they found themselves walking downhill more and more as the ledge began to descend toward the floor of the cavern. By the time they had walked another mile, they were no longer on a ledge at all but on the floor of a larger cavern room. Around them in every direction there was an abundance of huge stalagmites reaching up from the floor of the cavern and stalactites hanging from the high, cathedral-like ceiling. Maria and Isabel looked around the room in awe. Max and Michael touched the tall stalagmites, many of which were twice as tall as they were. Even Rahn appeared to be impressed.**

**"This place would be a bat's dream," Rahn said. "I wonder why there are no bats here?"**

**"Maybe it's too far in," Michael offered with a shrug.**

**"I don't think so," Rahn said. "Bats go pretty far up into caves. But you could be right."**

**"Hey guys," Maria yelled. "I think I found another passage. Maybe it'll get us out."**

**Max, Michael, Isabel, and Rahn walked swiftly over to the area where Maria was standing. Indeed, there was a large passageway behind several large stalagmites that had hidden it from view.**

**"Way to go, Maria," Max said. "Okay, this is the way we go then."**

**Everyone took another look around the large cathedral-like room then turned back to follow Max into the new passageway. Only now, there was no passageway there. Max pressed his hands to the wall of the cavern. It was solid.**

**"It was right here wasn't it, Michael?"**

**"No, I think it was right about here, Max," Michael said, running his hands over the wall several feet further to the right. Neither one could find any opening. The wall was solid rock.**

**"There was a passage there before," Isabel said. "I'm not going crazy! I saw it."**

**"We all saw it," Max said. "Okay, there are other passageways. We'll just take a different one. They're not as big, but any one could be the one that leads us out of here. Come on."**

**Max led the group into a second, slightly smaller, but still comfortably large passageway. This one went down for the first couple of thousand feet then began to go up again. But it was easy to walk in. Eventually, the group came to a fork in the way.**

**"Which way, Michael?" Max asked. "Any feeling about it? Anyone?"**

**Michael shrugged. "This one looks as good as any, Michael said, pointing to the left passageway, but as the group started to go down it, they found it suddenly blocked by huge boulders.**

**Max sat down on the path. "Michael, do you get the impression that something… or someone… is making us go the way it wants us to go?"**

**"What do you mean?"**

**"I mean… first the ledge. That kept the soldiers from following us… and us from going back. Then we start to take a large passageway and suddenly it isn't there any more. We're forced to take a different one. Now we choose this passage at a fork, only it's blocked when we get inside. I didn't see these boulders before."**

**"So… you're saying maybe we're supposed to take the other route, Max?"**

**"I'm saying maybe we're being forced into the other one," Max corrected.**

**"So would that be a good thing or a bad thing," Maria asked cautiously.**

**"That's something we'll undoubtedly find out," Max replied. "I don't know if we're being guided to freedom or herded to destruction. I like to know things beforehand so I can be prepared. I don't like following ghosts."**

**Maria shivered slightly. "Ghosts?"**

**"Or whatever is leading us in here, Maria. I'm not saying it's really ghosts. There are other possible explanations."**

**"Like?"**

**Max shrugged. "I'll think of some… I'm sure."**

**Max stood up and dusted himself off. "Okay, since it looks like we're going to be taking the other fork, let's get on our way." The others nodded in agreement.**

**                                         ************

**In the Sheriff's office in Roswell, Jim Valenti was trying to handle the barrage of questions that he was getting every day now from Jeff and Nancy Parker and from the Whitman's. Banned from seeing their children, they had fallen back on the one person whom they knew might be willing to help. Jim was doing all he could, but the sad fact was that he had little to go on himself. He, too, had been banned from having contact with either Liz or Alex. **

**"Jim, there must be something you can do," Mr. Whitman said. "I can't even drive my car out of Roswell without being stopped by the state police and quizzed about where I'm going and what my intentions are."**

**Jim closed his eyes and pressed his lips together in frustration. "I know. Judge Lewis is playing all his cards to keep Alex and Liz out of our reach."**

**"Why?" Mrs. Whitman wanted to know. "What did Alex ever do to him?"**

**Jim remembered that Alex had busted Judge Lewis' jaw, but he also knew that that was not the reason for the judge's behavior.**

**"I don't know," he replied. "The judge is acting on behalf of someone else. I can't tell you much more than that."**

**"Has anyone tried contacting the governor?" Mr. Whitman asked. "I'll take it all the way to Washington if I have to! Somebody's got to care about what's happening to our children."**

**"I think somebody does," Jim said. "But I think it's in the wrong way. Guys, look, I'm really doing all I can here. I know you want more information. So do I. It's hard to come by. I've told you what I can. Trust me when I say that I haven't given up. I have… things going that I can't talk about. Judge Lewis would block me if he knew."**

**"Who gave Judge Lewis so much power," Jeff asked. "He's just a nothing two-bit little judge!"**

**Jim raised his eyebrows. "A nothing little judge with some big influence behind him. Influence that reaches up to the state police and beyond… all the way to Washington. Judge Lewis is a pawn. We all know that. By himself, you're right… He would be virtually powerless. But he has other powers behind him… big ones. That's the sad truth of the matter, Jeff. At the moment, we can't touch him. Believe me, I'd like to. Amy's just waiting for the word to tear him apart herself."**

**Nancy smiled. "Well, if anyone could do it, Jim, she could! I say let her have him."**

**"There's nothing I would like better, Nancy… but we have to obey the law here… or at least appear to. I'm afraid that wouldn't solve anything."**

**"It would make us feel a lot better," Jeff said. Mrs. Whitman nodded, and Mr. Whitman slapped Jeff on the arm with an "Attaboy, Jeff! Tell him!"**

**Jim smiled slightly. "As tempting as it is, it'll have to wait for the right time… and now's not it. But the time will come. If there's any justice in the world… it will come."**

**                                           ************

**At the Crestview Mental Health Facility, a young man was running down the hall as fast as he could go. It was the orderly. He rushed to Liz's room and opened her door with his key, panicking as he turned the key in the lock. As the door swung open, the orderly stared at what he saw…**

**"Oh my God! Oh my God!"**

**"Oh great, it's the ghoul. I guess you came to finish the job or lock me back up, huh?"**

**The orderly looked at Alex and Liz for several moments.**

**"Are you both okay? How? I heard shots!"**

**"Oh, yeah, your bed's got holes in it," Alex said.**

**The orderly stammered and seemed at a loss for words. "I'm… I'm so relieved that you're both alive."**

**"Sure you are," Alex said, the sarcasm obvious in his voice.**

**"No, Alex," Liz stopped him. "I think he's telling the truth. He looks very shaken."**

**"Yeah, his job almost went out the window! Oh wait, there aren't any windows."**

**The orderly wiped the white powder off of his face and hands and opened his white coat. Underneath, he had on a deputy's shirt… and a deputy's badge… from Roswell.**

**"I thought you looked familiar," Liz said.**

**"For a ghoul you mean?" the deputy asked with a slight smile. "Deputy Dave Cotter, Roswell Sheriff's Department."**

**"What are you doing here," Alex asked.**

**"Jim sent me. He got me this job… through several roundabout connections. Sorry I had to be a jerk. I had to act the part… or be discovered."**

**"Where were you when we were being shot?" Alex asked accusingly.**

**"I got hit on the head and tied up. In the five days I've been here, they've sent three people to silence you, Alex, and to kill Liz."**

**"Silence me?"**

**"Kill you," Liz said. Deputy Cotter nodded.**

**"What happened to the first two," Alex asked.**

**"I caught the first one and had security turn him over to the local police, but the army sprung him within an hour. I was watching for the second one, and when he realized he was compromised, he terminated the mission. This was the third attempt since you've been here. And that leads me to a very baffling question, Miss Parker. What exactly happened in here? I expected to find you two dead by the time I got the ropes off of me and got up here, especially after hearing the shots."**

**"You heard a gun with a silencer?" Alex asked. **

**Deputy Cotter nodded. "I know the sound… even from a distance. How did you escape?"**

**"He pointed the gun at Alex's chest," Liz said, "and I freaked. I thought he was going to kill Alex." But he moved it to the side and shot the bed instead. When I realized he wasn't going to shoot Alex I was relieved. After that, he pointed the gun at me but then moved it to the side and shot the bed again."**

**"Strange," Deputy Cotter said. "He could have killed you both. He didn't. Why?"**

**"So you did save us… twice already," Alex said. "I guess I should thank you. Why did Dan bother to shoot the bed?"**

**Deputy Cotter raised his eyebrows. "Well, I suspect that was so whoever was listening would think that the job had been done, Alex. Somebody else was there to follow up if he failed. That's the way they work. A bullet entering the bed would sound pretty much like a bullet entering you. The person listening would know if he'd shot it into the air or into the wall. He didn't kill you because he didn't want to. But he made them think he did. I don't know why."**

**"Maybe he found his heart," Alex said. Liz squeezed Alex's hand and nodded.**

**Deputy Cotter shook his head. "I thought those guys pretty much all had those removed surgically or something so they wouldn't do something like that."**

**"Dan may be a little different," Alex said. "He just doesn't know it yet."**

**"He's dangerous. Don't forget it. He spared you this time. But he's a trained killer. Don't forget that."**

**Alex swallowed and nodded.**

**"Well, we have an opportunity here… and a problem," Deputy Cotter said. "You two are dead… officially. I can have your bodies taken out of here in body bags and delivered to Roswell."**

**"What's the problem, then?" Alex asked enthusiastically. "I'd spend a few hours… heck, I'd spend a WEEK in a body bag any time to get out of this place!"**

**"You're going to have to disappear for awhile Alex… you, too, Liz. You'll both be dead. You can't be seen."**

**"For how long?" Liz asked.**

**"Just till Sheriff Valenti figures out how to fix everything. Sorry… I don't know how long that might take… It could take a very long time. I hope not… but you should be aware of that possibility."**

**Alex and Liz both nodded.**

**"Your parents will have to think you're dead."**

**Liz looked up at Deputy Cotter and her mouth dropped open. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she shook her head. "I can't do that to them! I can't!"**

**"Would you rather really be dead and they really had to bury you, Liz? Because that's the other option. If we don't make this work, they're going to finish the job. Then your parents will have to bury you for real. If your parents know you're not dead, they won't seem grieved enough, even if they try very hard. Those guys will know, believe me!"**

**Liz buried her face in her hands and cried. She knew that Deputy Cotter was right… and it was almost more than she could bear.**

**                                         ************

**"Move it! Out of the way!" a local deputy shouted at the growing crowd, as two body bags were carried out of the Crestview Mental Facility the next day and placed into a waiting Hearst. Deputy Cotter, officially there now on behalf of the Roswell Sheriff's Department to escort the bodies home, stood beside the local deputy. The managing CEO of the asylum stood beside him, still in shock over the unexpected deaths of two of the clients in his asylum," especially two who were so young. Like everyone else, he was unaware of the full details of what had taken place.**

**"I don't understand. They were in perfect health. They were young… What happened?"**

**"I think white killed them," Deputy Cotter said somberly.**

**The CEO looked at Deputy Cotter for a moment. "Lack of color doesn't kill, Deputy."**

**"It seems a strange way to run a mental health facility," Deputy Cotter said plainly. "A bit unusual if you ask me."**

**"The two Roswell youths were in here for drug abuse that had damaged their brains. Their brains had suffered a sensory overload. The treatment we were giving them was appropriate. It's called sensory readjustment. The theory is that by depriving them of sensory experiences, especially color, they will become more docile… calmer… their brains will be allowed to rest… and when color is added back later, it will give them what they thought only drugs could give them. They will appreciate reality… without drugs."**

**Deputy Cotter nodded. "I still say it's a sucky treatment. But I'm not a psychiatrist. What would I know?"**

**"No, you're not," the CEO agreed.**

**The two body bags were laid in the back of the Hearst, and a paramedic closed the doors. Deputy Cotter got back into his patrol car and turned on the lights, then he pulled in front of the Hearst to escort it back to Roswell.**

**"Are those lights really necessary?" the CEO shouted at Deputy Cotter as he turned to pull out of the drive.**

**Cotter rolled down his window. "Why? Too much color? I don't think it's going to hurt them now, do you, Mr. Herrington?"**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The saddest homecoming. Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn find an ally… and a way out.**


	19. Dreams18

The Night The Dreams Died 

The Ways To Be Free 

**Chapter 18**

**XVIII******

**"N****oooooo! ****No! I won't believe it! Don't tell me that! Nooooo…" Nancy's voice trailed off into heartbreaking sobs. Jeff buried his face in his hands, the tears running copiously through his fingers. Mr. And Mrs. Whitman sat pale and speechless, looking as though they had just lost their only reason to live. **

**Jim tried feebly to swallow a huge lump that had formed in his throat. His own eyes were red and sore, and Amy, sitting beside him, held his hand for emotional support. Amy had been impossible to deceive. Jim had tried to convince her that Liz and Alex had been killed. Deputy Cotter had even backed him up, but somehow Amy had seen through the deception. Despite this fact, Amy sat here now, knowing the full truth, yet crying very real tears in torrents. Having to see the reactions of the Parkers and the Whitman's and deceive them this way was tearing her apart inside. She remembered all too well how she had felt when she had been told that Maria was dead after graduation, and she didn't want anyone else to ever have to go through what she had gone through again. But these were extraordinary circumstances. As Jim had aptly told her, once he had realized that he was not going to be able to convince her of their deaths, if this didn't work, the likely result would be that this scene would play out again one day very soon… and this time, it would be for real… Liz and Alex would not be coming back. It was a hard pill for Amy to swallow, but she could see that Jim was suffering too. **

**"How could this happen," Mr. Whitman asked, his voice breaking. "How, Sheriff?"**

**Jim shook his head. "I don't have a good answer for that, Mr. Whitman. Hell, there is no good answer! I wish I had an answer… I really do."**

**"But you're the law here, Jim," Mrs. Whitman said, wiping her eyes and nose with a handkerchief. "You're supposed to protect us… you're supposed to protect these kids. Things like this aren't supposed to happen here."**

**"No… they're not," Jim agreed quietly.**

**"Well, in all fairness to Jim," Jeff Parker said, "he wasn't the sheriff when the graduation thing happened… and all of this seems to have come from that. Somebody in City Hall removed Jim from office right before graduation. I say we need to take care of the matter, starting with Judge Lewis."**

**"Don't take the law into your own hands, Jeff," Jim warned. "Leave it to me and my deputies. We will take care of it. I promise you."**

**"It's a little late for that now, isn't it, Sheriff," Mrs. Whitman asked sadly. "Can you bring Alex back?"**

**Jim cringed. With all his heart, he wanted to say yes, but this was not the time, no matter how much it hurt.**

**"Cynthia," Amy said gently, sitting down beside Mrs. Whitman and taking her hand in her own, "I know how it looks right now… but things will all work out. I've been there myself. We survive. Life goes on."**

**"What kind of life Amy? How did you go on after Maria died? I don't think I can do it. Alex was… was everything to me." **

**Tears began to run down Mrs. Whitman's cheeks, and Amy found her own tears starting up again. **

**"Jim, I can't do this," Amy said, standing up and leaving the room, the tears flowing unchecked now down her face.**

**"This has been hard on Amy, too," Jim said softly. "It's opening up old wounds for her… bringing back her memories of Maria."**

**Mrs. Whitman nodded. "I'm… I'm sorry, Jim. I don't mean to hurt Amy… or you. You've put your own life on the line for Alex and the others over and again since graduation… Don't think we don't all know that. I just don't understand why this is happening. It doesn't feel real. It's like we're living in some kind of… Dodge City… Hell… here."**

**Jim cringed again. "I know nothing could ever make things seem okay right now, Gloria… but Amy was right. Life does go on. Trust us. You'll see."**

**************

**Outside the Sheriff's office, Amy was leaning against the wall, shaking, the tears still running down her face, when she noticed Judge Lewis watching from the corner.**

**"What are you looking at? You not satisfied with what you've done? Do you have to see the destruction you've caused, too?" **

**"Things happen, Ms. DeLuca. Don't blame me. I had nothing to do with it. Maybe if they hadn't been dealing drugs and had to be put away for their own good…"**

**Amy's hands and whole body tightened, but somehow she managed to find enough control to not take Judge Lewis apart piece by piece where he stood. Closing her eyes, she swallowed and breathed deeply, using every method at her disposal to calm herself… which under the circumstances, was a miraculous feat.**

**"Judge, be thankful I'm too distressed right now to do what I'd like to do."**

**"Is that some kind of veiled threat, Ms. DeLuca? Oh, excuse me… Mrs. Valenti! Because if it is, you need to know who you're dealing with. Don't bring problems on yourself. I'm still the big dog in this town… in a manner of speaking. That's a warning you should heed. Maybe that worthless husband of yours doesn't care enough about you to warn you… but I will. Don't mess with me."**

**Amy gritted her teeth tightly to keep from screaming. She felt like she would burst if she didn't let something out, but she didn't want to do anything that might compromise Jim's plans to help Liz and Alex. She needed to remain in control… for now.**

**Amy turned and ran back into the sheriff's office, shaking, and Jim knew with one look that something was wrong… **

**"What happened, Amy?"**

**Amy shook her head, but her lips quivered. "Judge Lewis… He's watching what's going on in here."**

**"Did he say anything to you?"**

**Amy pursed her lips tightly together and bit her tongue. "Nothing really, Jim. Nothing you need to worry about."**

**"Why would the judge be watching the goings on in your office, Sheriff?" Mr. Whitman asked. **

**"He probably enjoys seeing other people suffering," Jeff Parker answered for Jim. "He put Liz and Alex in that place where they could get shot. He's to blame for their deaths. We all should keep that in mind."**

**"Now, Jeff, I know how you feel and what you're thinking, but it wouldn't do Liz or Alex any good for the two of you to get yourselves arrested… or worse… going after the judge. Let me handle the things that are my jurisdiction. That's what I'm paid to do. I'll have Judge Lewis investigated… I'll go all the way to Washington if I have to… but don't take matters into your own hands or do anything that might get you arrested yourself. That's what he would like you to do. Judge Lewis is a bully… but he's a bully who knows how to use the laws to his own advantage."**

**Jeff nodded.**

**************

**Deep inside the earth, Max, Michael, Maria, Isabel, and Rahn had no way of knowing it, but they had already left the army base behind some time ago. They were technically free now. All together, they had walked a total of fourteen miles through the various corridors and rooms of the cavern. But still, they had not found an exit. **

**Max sat down on a large rock inside another large, cathedral-like room, which they had just entered.**

**"Take a minute, guys. Let's make some plans here… We need some light. It seems to be getting darker and darker in here… I think the natural phosphorescence in the walls must be diminishing the further we go."**

**"Maybe we're just getting further from the base and that warm, friendly radiation glow in the soil," Michael said with a smirk.**

**Max smiled. "Could be. Isabel… could you find me some small stones?"**

**"What are you going to do with them, Max?"**

**Max held up a partially hollow section of stalagmite that he had picked up off the floor of the cavern a few minutes before. **

**"I'm going to make a lantern. Michael and I will heat the rocks till they glow then I'll put them in this stalagmite chunk… or stalactite, whichever one it was."**

**Michael smiled. "I'm glad you said you were going to put them in there, Max, 'cause those suckers are gonna be really hot after we heat them up!"**

**Max stopped and thought for a moment. "Give me your shirt."**

**"My shirt? Why does it have to be my shirt?"**

**"Just do it, Michael. Come on."**

**Michael grudgingly removed his shirt, lifting it over the top of his head. Maria tried to hide her smile, as she watched Michael's pecs and biceps flex and his chest expand and contract in the lantern light with every movement. **

**"What ya got in mind, Max?" Michael asked, handing Max the shirt.**

**Max reached his hand into a small stream running along behind them and scooped up some mud and sand, which he rubbed copiously all over the shirt.**

**"I want you to know that was a good shirt, Max. I can never wear it again now."**

**"You won't want to, Michael." Max ripped the shirt into several strips then tied one mud-caked strip into a sling, which he set their makeshift "lantern" into. Next he put an extra-thick layer of wet mud and sand on the second strip then laid the rocks on it. **

**"Fire away, Michael."**

**"It's gonna burn that cloth up, Max."**

**"Maybe. We won't know until we try." Max held his hand up and blasted the small stones with energy from his hand, and Michael followed suit, blasting them with energy from his own hand until they glowed brightly in the darkness of the cavern. The mud and sand fused and hardened in the heat, turning into something like glassy brick. It was impossible to know for sure if the strip of shirt inside was still there or if it had been incinerated by the heat, leaving only a flat heat-hardened pole. Max raked the stones off the pole into the makeshift lantern, then he picked the lantern up by the sling.**

**"We have light, Michael."**

**Michael nodded his head. "Yeah… yeah, I guess we do. You owe me a shirt, Max."**

**Max grinned then turned to Rahn. "Rahn… you saw the geological maps that showed this cavern system. Do you remember where it comes out?"**

**"It didn't show any exits," Rahn said. "But that's not unusual. They don't always show them. There must be exits. We just have to find them. I could fly ahead and search while everyone else rests. I can cover more territory and maybe save everyone some walking."**

**Max nodded. "Okay, that sounds like a good idea… you can go whenever you're ready."**

**Rahn shape-shifted into a sea gull then into a bat as he disappeared into the darkness beyond.**

**"How far do you think we've walked, Michael?"**

**"I don't know, Max… I'd say at least eight or nine miles… maybe more. Do you think we're still under the base?"**

**"I doubt it… Maybe… but I doubt it."**

**"I doubt it, too. **

**"Hey, Max, look at this," Isabel said, reaching up a couple of feet over her head to get something that had been placed on top of a broken off stalagmite. "It looks like a book or something. What do you think?"**

**Isabel handed the object to Max, and he turned it over then opened it. The cover appeared to be some kind of thin leather. The pages were… well, he wasn't sure what they were, but they were definitely unusual… and so was the writing.**

**"I've seen this writing," Michael said.**

**"Where?"**

**"I don't know… in my mind… and in the Destiny Book! This is the same kind of writing… only different."**

**"Different how?"**

**"Just… different… not the same… not even the same letters… but similar. Probably the same language… or maybe a different language but from the same culture."**

**"Or… maybe from the same planet?" Max asked.**

**Michael nodded.**

**"If it's Antarian, maybe Rahn can tell us what it says when he comes back."**

**Max thumbed through the pages again. There were no pictures, just the strange writing… and the writing was much smaller than the writing in the Destiny Book. The pages felt waxy. Max closed the book.**

**"Let's move on. We've rested long enough. Rahn can find us on the way."**

**Michael, Maria, and Isabel followed Max into the corridor that Rahn had flown into only a few minutes before, but this time they found their path suddenly barred, not by boulders or a solid wall or a broken ledge… but by a very large gray wolf… an animal not native to this area. Coyotes were well-known here, but finding either one deep inside a cave would have to be considered odd in any case. **

**The wolf stood silently, defiantly, in the corridor, facing Max, staring into his eyes intently with that icy, menacing stare that only a wolf has. Max froze, and the others stopped where they stood behind him. For a moment, nothing happened. Then without a sound, the wolf leapt, its mouth open and its teeth bared, but instead of going for Max's throat as expected, it grabbed the book.**

**The moment the wolf leapt at Max, Michael went into protective mode, raising his hand toward the attacking animal. A flash of power from Michael's hand dropped the huge animal to the ground on its side, and the book fell from its mouth.**

**Still shaken, Max, Michael, Maria, and Isabel approached the fallen animal cautiously, but before they could determine if it was dead or alive, it began to shimmer, then change, finally settling into the form of a young woman with blonde hair. Max knelt beside the girl and turned her face toward him. Her eyes were fixed in a blank stare, but she was still breathing… barely. Max placed his hand over the wound on her side and held it there for several moments, as a greenish glow appeared over the wound. After a short time, the girl closed her eyes… then she opened them again and looked at Max…**

**"You weren't supposed to see me. It ruins everything."**

**"What does it ruin," Max asked. "Why shouldn't I see you?"**

**"I… I can't tell you."**

**"You're a shape-shifter," Max said, half as a question, half as a statement.**

**The girl shook her head slowly.**

**"We saw you change from a wolf into what you are now," Maria said. "You have to be a shape-shifter."**

**"No… not a shape-shifter," the girl insisted. "Don't ask me any more. Please. I can't…"**

**You gave up the chance to keep secrets," Max said, "…when you attacked us. Now it's our turn to get some answers. First of all, why are you following us? Who are you? What do you want with us… and this book?"**

**"It's mine," the girl said. "and I didn't attack you. I saved you. Who do you think made those soldiers think the ledge had broken off so they wouldn't follow you? Who do you think has been guiding you so you wouldn't wind up so deep in the earth that you would never find your way out? If you had taken the largest corridor at the first junction you would be somewhere near the center of the earth right now, I think. I don't think it ever comes back up."**

**"Why would you help us," Max asked. "We don't even know you. And what are you doing way down here inside a cave by yourself?"**

**The girl looked to one side for a moment but then seemed to have questions of her own for Max.**

**"He hit me with some kind of blast," she said, pointing toward Michael. "What is he? How did he do that?"**

**"Tell me how you can make yourself look like a wolf and maybe I'll tell you about Michael."**

**The girl appeared reticent, but curiosity seemed to overcome her better judgment…**

**"I'm not a shape-shifter; I just create visions. You merely thought you saw a wolf. I was never anything but me."**

**"That would explain the stone wall where a corridor had just been and the falling ledge that never fell," Michael said.**

**Max nodded. "So you create visions… in our minds."**

**"Yes."**

**"Why are you helping us?"**

**"You need help."**

**"But you don't know us. How did you know we were the good guys?"**

**"Are you?"**

**"Okay… Do you make a habit of helping bad guys?"**

**The girl shrugged. "I can see things in your mind. I knew you needed help."**

**"You can read our minds?" Maria asked, alarmed. "Oh, that's great! Now I'm going to have to watch what I'm thinking." Maria turned slightly red as she glanced quickly at Michael standing beside her with his shirt off, his well-toned muscles glistening in the low light.**

**The girl seemed to smile slightly. "I can't exactly read your minds… I just feel… feelings. I know if your intentions are good or bad… and what you're feeling."**

**"Then why did you hide from us?"**

**"Do you reveal yourself to everybody who has good intentions? …Does your mother know what you are?"**

**Max recoiled sharply at this last comment. "I thought you said you couldn't read minds."**

**"I can't… but I'm pretty good at piecing clues together. I know you're not who you appear to be. You have things to hide. I can feel that."**

**"Alright. So I have things to hide. And so do you. Where are you from?"**

**The girl looked around the cavern and shrugged, motioning all around.**

**"You weren't born here… in this cave."**

**"I may have been… I don't know."**

**"Okay, let's try it a different way," Max said. "People on earth don't read minds. Excuse me, I mean they don't feel other people's feelings… not the way you do… or create visions in other people's minds. I don't know anyone who can appear to be a wolf, either."**

**"Not even your friend who flew out of here with the little bat wings?"**

**"You saw him?"**

**"Of course. I've been watching you."**

**"Okay… he's… different."**

**"Well, I know that. What is he? A shape-shifter?"**

**"I thought you were good at piecing the clues together."**

**"So he's a shape-shifter. What's your friend… Michael? And what are you?"**

**"That's a lot of questions. Like you said, I have things I prefer to keep private."**

**"Fair enough, but you promised to tell me what Michael is if I told you about me."**

**Max looked at Michael. Both of them felt uneasy about giving away information that they had always kept so closely guarded. They had always known that their lives depended on it.**

**"You know," the girl said, "if I hadn't helped you, you'd be toast right now. You owe me that."**

**"Well, we don't really know that we'd be toast right now as you say. We'd have found our way out eventually… and escaped from the soldiers, too."**

**"Maybe."**

**"Okay, I guess we do owe you… and you do seem to have it all figured out anyway. I'm sure you know that Michael and I aren't from around here."**

**"Well I know that. You're from another planet."**

**"Why'd you even bother to ask?"**

**The girl shrugged. "I feel things. It's not the same as knowing… exactly."**

**"You're not surprised by what we are," Max asked.**

**"No. I know I'm different, too. I always knew that I wasn't from here. I just don't know where I'm from."**

**"You don't know where your people came from?" Isabel asked.**

**The girl shook her head. "Do you know? Where you're from, I mean?"**

**"Well… yeah… maybe… kind of…" Max stammered.**

**"So we're not so different after all, the girl said with a knowing smile."**

**"I guess not. What's your name? You have one, don't you?"**

**"Of course I do. It's A'in ji-Lii. I usually spell it 'A-n-g-i-e L-e-e,' though."**

**As they spoke, Rahn suddenly returned, landing near Max and the girl, who was by now sitting up again. Rahn walked around on the ground for a few moments acting like a very misplaced and lost sea gull, then he hopped on top of Max's head and stood there shifting from one foot to the other nervously.**

**Max rolled his eyes upward… "Alright, you've got my attention, Rahn."**

**"That's Max's pet," Michael said with a snicker. "It thinks he's its daddy."**

**"It's going to be our next meal if it poops while it's up there," Max said sullenly. "Rahn, get down here! She knows already."**

**Rahn hopped off onto the ground and shifted back into his human form. "Well, I didn't know if you wanted me to change in front of her."**

**"What's the matter, Rahn," Michael asked, grinning, "You shy about changing in front of girls?"**

**"Shy?" Rahn asked, appearing confused.**

**"Never mind him," Max said. "He's just making a joke. Rahn, check this out." Max handed Rahn the book. Immediately, Angie Lee leapt for it, but Max blocked her.**

**"You can't! You can't read that… It's mine!"**

**"What's in this book that's so important?" Max asked. "Does it have to do with us? Is this something else from our planet that we were supposed to get but never knew about?"**

**"It's nothing. It's not important to you."**

**Rahn looked at the pages and raised his eyebrows, in a perfect imitation of a human reaction.**

**"What does it say," Max asked.**

**"Well… do you really want to know?"**

**"Yes!"**

**Rahn began to read… **

"Jeyyal pressed his lips to Mi'chya's waiting mouth, as she panted with anticipation. To Mi'chya, Jeyyal's body felt like a warm spring day after a long winter as it rubbed against her nipples, which like three perfect red roses rising from the cool white snow, awakened to soak up the warmth of the sun. It had been too long. Mi'chya moaned as Jeyyal kissed her neck then her shoulders, working his way slowly, passionately…"

**"What is this?" Max asked, interrupting Rahn in mid-sentence… "some kind of alien porn?"**

**"I think it's what you would call here… a romance novel," Rahn said, silently reading the rest of the passage to himself before closing the book up and handing it to Angie Lee.**

**"A romance novel!?" Max repeated, turning to Angie Lee in disbelief. "That's what you've been protecting? A romance novel!"**

**"Three?" Michael muttered, more to himself than to anyone else in particular, his eyes still fixed on the book in Angie Lee's hand. "How does that work?"**

**"It's all I have from my world," Angie Lee said, her face reddening noticeably, even in the glow of the lantern. "My father disappeared when I was six. I only have Grandfather now… and nothing from my world but this book… and one other one."**

**"Another romance novel?"**

**"No. Something I can't read. It's a different writing… but it's from my world, too."**

**"Then you do know where you're from," Michael said.**

**Angie Lee shook her head. "I remember so little. I can read this… but I don't even know where it comes from, only that it's another world… somewhere."**

**"What about your grandfather?" Maria asked. "You said you have a grandfather. Can't he tell you where you're from?"**

**"He's not my real grandfather. I just call him that. He's more like… my protector. He took care of me after my father died… and he sent me to school… and college."**

**"You went to college?" Isabel asked, surprised.**

**Angie Lee nodded. "I started this year. Grandfather is paying for it… with his own money… and… special grants."**

**"I didn't know they had grants for aliens," Michael said. "They never told me this. What are you doing in this cave?"**

**"I grew up here. When I'm home from college, I often come here. This is where my father lived with me… before he died."**

**"In a cave?"**

**Angie Lee nodded.**

**"Where's your protector? Does he live in this cave, too," Maria asked.**

**Angie Lee started to answer Maria's question, but a shadow suddenly appeared on the wall in the light of the lantern. Everyone seemed to notice it at the same time and turned to look at the wall. The shadow, which appeared to be human for the most part, grew quickly larger and larger until it stood over twelve feet high… and on it's head, there was a horn.**

**"Grandfather is here," Angie Lee said. "He's looking for me."**

**"A'in ji Lii ! Hayu? Ha'and'ah !"**

**Everyone turned around quickly to look at the source of the voice. It wasn't a monster after all. It was merely an old man… an Indian by the looks of him. He had a headband and a single feather –the "horn" they had thought they saw in the huge reflection he had cast in the lantern's light- Now he stood in the corridor, holding his own lantern in one hand and a spear in the other. The spear was pointed at Max, who was the person closest to Angie Lee.**

**"Shiitsooyee! Dohohda!" Angie Lee replied to the old man. "Do'o ansi."**

**    _(Grandfather, no! I'm okay.) _**

**"Nnee… Magaa'nnee! Hat'ugha?"**

**    _(People… White people! Why?)_**

**"They needed my help, Grandfather. The soldiers were chasing them."**

**The old Indian looked fearful. "You will bring the soldiers to us, A'in ji Lii."**

**"No, Grandfather. I made sure of that."**

**"You are too naïve, little one."**

**"We will be safe on the reservation, Grandfather. The soldiers won't bother us there."**

**"Hmmm. You have much to learn of history, little yellow coyote. Let's go now… before they know where you went. Why do you insist on coming to this cave, A'in ji Lii? It is cursed by the ancestors."**

**"Yes… Because of my father… I know. But that's just a superstition, Grandfather."**

**"No, child! It is not. You have much to learn.**

**"You allowed my father to stay… when I was a child. My father… his spirit… is here… in this cave. I come here to remember. Don't you like to be near your ancestors, Grandfather?"**

**"Ni'i nahi'imaa at'e, ya naheeka'ee at'e, A'in ji Lii."**

**"What did he say," Max asked.**

**"He said, 'Earth is our mother, sky is our father.'"**

**"These people with you cannot stay on the Reservation, A'in ji Lii… the warning of the elders… The ancestors' vengeance will be upon anyone who allows nasedo to stay."**

**"Nasedo?" Michael repeated questioningly.**

**"Nasedo is the Mesaliko word for 'visitor,'" Angie Lee replied.**

**"Your grandfather is Mesaliko… Apache? He… you… live on the Mesaliko Reservation?"**

**The girl nodded.**

**"That's where River Dog lives," Michael said.**

**"You know River Dog?" Angie Lee asked, surprised.**

**Max nodded. "Yeah, he helped us out once."**

**"River Dog is Grandfather's brother."**

**"River Dog has a brother?" Max asked, surprised.**

**Angie Lee laughed. "Actually, he has four brothers… and three sisters."**

**"Did you know that, Michael?" Max asked.**

**"What?"**

**"That River dog had four brothers and three sisters."**

**"Oh… No, I still haven't gotten over that alien nipple thing."**

**Maria whacked Michael lightly on the back of the head.**

**"Hey!" Michael said to Angie Lee, paying no attention to the whack he had just received, "If your grandfather is River Dog's brother, that makes you, like, family or something, I guess. River Dog helped save my life once."**

**"And now I have helped save it," Angie Lee said, smiling. "I guess it runs in our family."**

**"I've always wondered something," Isabel said. "How are the Mesalikos related to the Mescalero Apaches?"**

**Angie lowered her voice, not wishing to offend her "grandfather" by being too loose with information about his people.**

**"In eastern New Mexico, there were the Chiricahua Apaches and the Mescalero Apaches. East of the Rio Grande was home to the Mescaleros; west of the river was home to the Chiricahua. But the two groups were very closely related. The Chiricahuas were the tribe that Geronimo belonged to. Because of his raids, all of the Chiricahuas were taken away and relocated in Florida, then in Oklahoma. The Mescaleros, though, were placed on a reservation here. When the relocations started, a few of the Chiricahuas escaped and came here, asking for help from their brothers, the Mescalero Apaches. They hid by living together with the Mescaleros and so avoided being sent to the east with the rest of the Chiricahuas, but they distinguished themselves from their brothers by calling themselves Mesalikos instead of Mescaleros. The names were similar, and apparently, the white man never noticed."**

**"Oh! I always wondered," Isabel said. "You never really see anything about the Mesalikos, but there's a lot about the Mescaleros and the Chiricahuas."**

**"That's why," Angie Lee said. "The Mesalikos were part of the Chiricahua band, but they joined secretly with the Mescaleros. They weren't even known to exist until after the relocations had stopped."**

**"So your grandfather and River Dog would be, like, Mesaliko Mescalero Chiricahua Apache," Michael said.**

**"Don't tell THEM that," Angie Lee said with a smile. "They're Mesaliko Apache. The word 'Apache,' by the way, just means 'people' in the 'Apache' language, so they're 'Mesaliko' people. You see, when the Spaniards asked them what they were, they said, 'We're people.' Like duh! Then the Spaniards went around asking all the Indians they found, 'are you apachii?' and if they understood the word, they said, 'Of course. What else would we be?' So everyone who understood that language or a close dialect of it became Apaches, but there are all these different bands, like the Chiricahuas and the Mescaleros and the Mesalikos."**

**"Got ya," Michael nodded. "You know a lot about Indians."**

**"Grandfather taught me," Angie Lee said. "I just wish I knew anything at all about my own people."**

**Michael nodded understandingly. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I've been known to say that myself a few times, I think."**

**"We're almost to the exit," Angie Lee said, as they walked along, following the old Indian. "It's just a few more minutes."**

**"Where does it come out," Isabel asked, straining to see up ahead of the old man who was guiding them.**

**"On the Mesaliko Reservation. It's not far from our house. But it will probably be best if you can find some place else to go as soon as possible. Grandfather will believe that he's being cursed by the ancestors if you stay very long."**

**"We don't intend to stay," Max said. "Maybe one day… two at the most. We have to make some plans. We have things to do. I have people I want to see… need to see… again."**

**"A girlfriend?" Angie Lee asked.**

**Max nodded. "Yeah. I guess you could say that."**

**"Future wife," Rahn said for him. **

**Max shifted nervously on his feet. "Well, we don't know that… I mean… it's just that… well, I haven't asked yet. I don't know if she'll want me… forever… you know. It wouldn't be easy being married to… you know, one of us… well, me."**

**"No, really?" Angie Lee asked with a tone of sarcasm in her voice. "Is she pretty?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Do you have a boyfriend, Angie Lee," Isabel asked.**

**The girl smiled. "No. Well, there's this boy at college who's helping me translate the other book I have… with the computers they have there. He's real nice. His name is Alex Whitman."**

**Isabel suddenly lost her footing, stumbled, and would have fallen had it not been for the quick reflexes of Michael, who grabbed her.**

**"Are you okay," Angie Lee asked, coming back to help.**

**"Yeah… yeah, I'm fine! I'm okay. I just… Alex Whitman? Is he your… boyfriend?"**

**Angie Lee started to laugh then shook her head. "No. Alex is a very nice boy… a little shy maybe… but like Max said, people like us… like me… need someone different. I like Alex, but he's just a friend."**

**"Good," Isabel said.**

**"What?"**

**"Nothing. I just said, 'Oh.'"**

**"Ah." Angie Lee sighed. "I don't guess I'll ever find anyone from my world. I don't even know where my world is."**

**"What about this other book," Max asked, "…the one Alex was helping you translate. Have you translated any of it yet?"**

**"Alex put the symbols into the computer and wrote a program that would search for grammatical clues and similarities… based on usage and all. We didn't get the results back before break started, so none of it is translated yet."**

**"Can I see the book?" Max asked. "Do you have it here… at the house or somewhere?"**

**"You're just really interested in my books, aren't you," Angie Lee asked with a grin. "Didn't you get enough after the other one?"**

**"Look!" Maria yelled out suddenly. "There's the exit right up there! We're really going to get out of here! Woo hoo!"**

**"Of course we are," Michael said confidently. "Would I ever have let you down?"**

**Maria shook her head and kissed Michael on the cheek. "It wasn't so bad in there… once we found you, Michael."**

**Angie Lee smiled at Maria but said nothing. As they walked out of the cave, the old Indian said something to Angie Lee in Mesaliko. Angie Lee nodded.**

**"Guys, Grandfather would like for you to wait here until he prepares for you at the house. I think he wants to do a charm or something to keep the ancestors from seeing you while you're there."**

**"Alright," Max said. "We'll wait here."**

**Angie Lee and her "Grandfather" walked along the path toward a group of small houses that could be seen in the near distance.**

**"What do you think, Max?" Michael asked. "Do you believe her… I mean, everything she said?"**

**"Yeah," Max said after a few moments reflection. "I do… to a point. I think she has a few secrets she hasn't told us. But more importantly, I think 'Grandfather' has some secrets of his own… I think he knows more than he has ever told Angie Lee… maybe a lot more."**

**"Why wouldn't he tell her about her world and her people if he knew, Max?"**

**"That's a good question," Max replied. "That's a very good question."**

**************

**In Roswell, Judge Lewis had just sat down at his desk and begun to shuffle through some old papers when his door opened and three men let themselves in.**

**"You not locking your door now, Judge?"**

**"Would it keep you guys out?"**

**The agents just smiled. **

**"I didn't think so."**

**"Well, Judge, this is just a social visit," the first agent said, stuffing a wad of hundred dollar bills into the inside pocket of Judge Lewis' coat and patting him on the chest. "Let's just say it's for a job well done."**

**"Yeah… okay… thanks. Are you finished?"**

**"For now," The first agent said, nodding. "If we need you again, we can call on you, right? By the way, how did that… 'reference' I gave you work out? I take it you went to see him… or did you just stick a cork in it? I see the floor's still dry."**

**"I'm a nervous man, and you guys give me the heeby-jeebys. I can't help it." **

**"Maybe you shouldn't have got involved with us then, Judge. When you jump in water over your head and you can't swim, you risk 'drowning,' you know what I mean?" The other two agents chuckled. **

**"Laugh all you want. It's fixed now. He gave me some pills… and stuff. You don't see me 'drowning' now do you? You'll just have to find someone else to be the butt of your jokes."**

**"Well, I guess I can call the wharf and tell them I won't be needing to charter that boat next time I come here then." There was more chuckling. "Take care, Judge. Keep the plug in. It's a 'good' thing, believe me."**

**Judge Lewis scowled, but as soon as they left, he remembered the money that had been put in his pocket and sat down to count it. Soon, he was smiling again. He put the money away and sat down, but instead of being able to get back to his work, he found himself tapping his fingers on the desktop.**

**"Something's not right. I don't know what it is, but something's not right." He closed his drawer and leaned back, folding his hands in front of himself and moving his thumbs around each other idly. "I've got to watch Jim closely. He's hiding something… and I need to find out what it is."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Jim Valenti finds a place to hide Liz and Alex temporarily… and Judge Lewis realizes what it is that's bothering him.**

**Disclaimer: The information about the Mesalikos being Chiricahuas who went to live among the Mescaleros was made up (by me) for this story. The Mesalikos may be a real tribe, but as far as I can determine, they only exist in the Roswell stories, and the name was probably meant to sound like Mescaleros, which are a real band of the Apaches in that area. The part about how the Spaniards asked everyone if they were apachii or not then called them all Apaches is supposition. It could have happened that way. The word "apachii" does mean "people." So does "nnee." I'm not sure what the difference is. I'm not Apache. (Oh, wait a minute! I am, aren't I? I'm "people," that is!) LOL. In any case, the rest of the information about Chiricahuas and Mescaleros is historically accurate and factual to the best of my knowledge, and the conversation is a close approximation of the Apache spoken by the Chiricahuas and Mescaleros in that part of New Mexico (as butchered by me! :lol). Wouldn't want the ancestors to haunt me for factual misrepresentation! Some of my ancestors are Cherokee. :)**


	20. Dreams19

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Apache Summer**

**Chapter 19**

**XIX******

**"H****ow much is the tab," Sheriff Jim Valenti asked, taking the four bags from the girl's hand. He nodded to Deputy Dave Cotter. Cotter nodded back and took the four bags then left, heading for the stairs. **

**"I think it was $17.98."**

**Jim smiled at the young lady from the CrashDown and reached into his pocket.**

**"Oh! Don't worry about it, Sheriff. Mr. Parker said it was on the house."**

**Jim slowly retracted his hand from his pocket. "Are you sure?"**

**"That's what he said, sir. It's on the house. He said to tell you it's the least he could do… and… that he owed you."**

**Jim Valenti nodded. "Well, tell Jeff I'm grateful to him, Sherrie. And… tell him we're working on things here… I hope I'll be able to… well… um… Just tell him thanks."**

**The girl smiled. "I'll tell him for you, Sheriff."**

**Jim held out a five-dollar bill.**

**"What's that for?"**

**"For your trouble. You had to bring this all the way over here."**

**"Oh! Don't worry, Sheriff. If I wasn't here I'd just be waitin' on customers at the CrashDown right now. Which reminds me… I'd better get back. Lisa's waiting the place all alone at the moment."**

**Jim tucked the five-dollar bill into the little pocket in the girl's alien motif apron. "No argument, ya here? I'm the sheriff, and that's an order."**

**The girl smiled then turned to leave. "Yes, sir! Thank you, Sheriff."**

**"Don't mention it."**

**Amy, who had just arrived, held the door for her. **

**"Thank you, Mrs. V." **

**"Mrs. V?"**

**"Oh, I'm sorry! I mean, Mrs. Valenti. I didn't mean to be disrespectful. It's just what some of the girls call you… no disrespect intended."**

**"None taken," Amy said. "I guess it's better than 'Mrs. Sheriff.' I've heard that one, too."**

**The girl laughed. Amy closed the door behind her and walked over to Jim then sat down on his lap.**

**"You still putting money in girls' waistbands, Jim?" she asked, mussing Jim's hair a bit and giving him a stern look.**

**"Yeah… but these days they're all dressed in waitress uniforms." **

**Amy grinned. "Kinky! But that's okay. I can iron the little kinks out," she said teasingly, giving Jim a kiss before getting back up. **

**Amy motioned toward the door that the waitress had gone out. "Was that for…?"**

**Jim nodded.**

**"Good."**

**"What you got on your mind, Amy?"**

**Amy opened her mouth for a moment as though to protest. "Why would you think I had something on my mind, Jim?"**

**"Because I know you. I can see the little gears turning in your head."**

**"You can? I'll have to get that hole plugged up."**

**"Don't bother. I think it's… endearing."**

**"And besides… I can't hide my intentions from you, right?" Amy said with a chuckle. "Well, you're right, Jim. I guess I do have something on my mind."**

**"Maria?"**

**Amy looked at Jim for a moment. "Is the hole that big?"**

**Jim shrugged. "I know what you need in life, Amy… and where your heart is. You've been worrying about others for a while. It's natural that you'd start thinking about Maria again now."**

**Amy nodded. "I want to get back on the base, Jim. I know in my heart that they know something about what happened to Maria… and maybe… she might even be…"**

**"Alive," Jim said for her. "I know. I don't want you getting your hopes up, Amy, then getting hurt again… but I really can't help but agree that there's reason enough to… well… check things out. The army certainly hasn't been very forthcoming and honest with us about things."**

**"No, they haven't. When can we go, Jim?"**

**Jim sucked some air through his teeth. "Let me make some plans, Amy. Soon. I promise you."**

**"I'll have to get used to this planning thing, Jim. My usual practice has just been to barge ahead and impale anyone standing in my way on my horns…"**

**"I noticed," Jim said, smiling.**

**"Don't knock it, Jim. There's a lot of shredded red capes out there."**

**"I know. And former would-be toreadors, too," Jim said, nodding appreciatively.**

**                                        ************

**Deputy Dave Cotter knocked softly on the door of the third floor gym. Then he counted to ten and knocked again… two raps… then four… then three. A moment later, the door opened.**

**"Delivery service," Cotter said with a smile.**

**Alex took the bags from the deputy's hands. "Come in, Deputy."**

**Dave Cotter walked into the gym, and Alex closed and locked the door behind him.**

**"The sheriff thought you might be hungry."**

**Alex nodded, pulling the food from the bags. "Hungry doesn't begin to describe it! I'm starved!" Alex handed a large cheeseburger and fries to Liz and set another one on his leg for himself. Then he opened another bag.**

**"Strawberry shakes! Strawberry!"**

**"You like strawberry," Deputy Cotter asked.**

**"I love it! And it's red! Everything's so wonderfully… colorful!"**

**"Sorry about that," Deputy Cotter said. "That wasn't my idea, you know… the all-white food and everything."**

**Alex nodded, already chewing a bite of his cheeseburger. "I know. You had to bring us that stuff. We understand. You couldn't blow your cover."**

**"What's in the other bags," Alex asked, opening one of the other two bags.**

**"Salads!" Liz exclaimed, as Alex removed two containers of lettuce, tomatoes, grated cheese, radishes, and other salad makings. Liz took the containers and began making two salads, taking care to place a liberal amount of little red tomatoes, radishes, and yellow cheese on the top of Alex's.**

**Alex opened the fourth bag and removed two bottles of Snapples. **

**"The sheriff thought of everything, didn't he? Tell him thanks."**

**"I'll tell him," Deputy Cotter said. **

**"He ordered this from the CrashDown, didn't he," Liz said. "I know my Dad's cheeseburgers. He made these. I wish he could know how much I'm enjoying this meal." Tears welled up in Liz's eyes. "God, if Dad knew that Jim was buying food from the CrashDown… to feed me…"**

**"Well, your Dad said it was on the house this time," Deputy Cotter said. **

**Liz wiped her eyes with a paper napkin. "I owe Jim so much already… I don't think I can ever pay him back…"**

**Deputy Cotter smiled. "I think he feels that it's worth it."**

**                                          ************

**Outside the sheriff's office, another person watched as the girl in the CrashDown outfit came out and walked back toward the restaurant. On the face of it, it seemed innocent enough. Jim Valenti was known to like a CrashDown coffee every now and then… probably to wash the taste of his own coffee down with. But he usually went to get it himself. Maybe he was tied up today and just ordered in. But Judge Lewis' suspicion meter was clanging loudly in his head. He decided to follow the girl back to the CrashDown.**

**Lisa turned to look as the other waitress walked in. "Sherrie! I'm glad you're back! The place is getting kinda busy. Grab a pad, okay?"**

**"I'm on it." Sherrie picked up her order pad and walked over to her usual station to take an order. Judge Lewis walked in behind her.**

**"Would you like a seat, sir?" Lisa asked.**

**"Huh? No… well, uh… yeah, I guess I would."**

**"Okay." Lisa looked around. "How about right over there. We're starting to fill up. You got here just in time."**

**Judge Lewis frowned, ignoring Lisa's good-natured pleasantries. He made his way to the booth that Lisa had shown him and sat down. A couple of minutes later, Lisa returned with her order pad.**

**"Sorry you had to wait. What can I get you?"**

**"Well… I don't usually come in here. What do you have?"**

**"Oh, didn't I give you a menu?"**

**"No. Never mind. I'm not hungry. Just bring me a large coffee… and three donuts… the kind with the jelly… You have those, don't you?"**

**Lisa nodded.**

**"Make it four donuts… no, five. Make it five."**

**"Five donuts… and a large coffee. Cream and sugar in your coffee or do you prefer to sweeten it yourself?"**

**"Just black. I'm on a diet."**

**Lisa smiled. "Black it is. I'll be right back."**

**A couple of minutes passed again and Lisa returned with a large coffee and five jelly donuts on a platter.  **

**"Will that be all, sir? Can I get you anything else?"**

**"Not right now. Check back with me in a few minutes."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**As Lisa started to walk away, Judge Lewis stopped her. "Oh, by the way…"**

**"Yes?"**

**"I noticed the other waitress over there coming back from somewhere. Do you make deliveries?"**

**"Well, not officially… but yeah. If someone requests it, we sometimes do."**

**"Can I ask you who she was delivering to?"**

**"The sheriff. He called in an order about an hour ago. Sherrie took it to him."**

**"Is that normal? Doesn't the sheriff usually come in to get his own coffee?"**

**"Yeah. I guess he wanted to eat in his office today."**

**"Eat? He got something besides coffee?"**

**"Yeah." Lisa laughed. "Sheriffs eat too, I guess."**

**Judge Lewis smiled condescendingly. "What did he want?"**

**"Nothing special… just a couple of cheeseburgers, a couple of large fries, a couple of strawberry shakes, some salad items, and some drinks, I think… Snapples, yeah, that's it."**

**"That's a lot for one man to eat isn't it?"**

**Lisa glanced at the five large jelly donuts on Judge Lewis' platter and his ample belly and suppressed a smile. "Well, his wife was there. I guess she had to eat, too."**

**Judge Lewis rubbed his chin with his left hand, as he stuffed another jelly donut into his mouth with his right hand and took a large bite. "Yeah. That could be it, I guess. She eats pretty hearty, doesn't she… for a little thing like that, don't you think?"**

**"I don't know. I've seen some girls who can eat more. Besides, I know Amy. She's a mover. She never stops going. I guess she burns it all off. She needs the energy just to keep going."**

**Judge Lewis nodded. "Yeah… yeah… maybe. Okay, thanks. I was just wondering."**

**Lisa turned and walked back to the kitchen.**

**"What was he asking about," Sherrie asked.**

**"Nothing. He just wanted to know if you were making a delivery and who it was for. Then he asked what they ordered. Did you see his plate, Sherrie? Five! Count 'em, FIVE large Jelly Martians! But he wanted his coffee black… 'cause he's on a diet."**

**Sherrie snorted. "That's Judge Lewis, you know."**

**Lisa glanced out the door of the kitchen. "Oh, that's the Judge? I've heard about him."**

**Sherrie nodded. "The rumor is he's taking kickbacks from the coyotes." **

**"Well, he does seem to have a lot of cash and stuff… you know, bling-bling," Lisa said. "What's a coyote?"**

**Sherrie snorted again. "You throw around terms like 'bling-bling,' and you don't know what a 'coyote' is?**

**"Yeah, well, I know it's an animal… like a wolf."**

**"Oh, Lisa! How long have you lived in New Mexico? Coyotes are smugglers who smuggle illegal aliens in from Mexico." Sherrie lowered her voice. "The rumor is the judge takes kickbacks to look the other way and sometimes even fixes the coyotes up with transportation and a hiding place for their… special cargo. My Dad said Judge Lewis was being investigated by the Feds last year but then someone really high up squashed the investigation."**

**"Your Dad was a detective… with the state police, wasn't he?"**

**"Yeah. He's retired now, but he still has friends there… and connections. He says the Judge must be into the mob or something now, because he's got a lot of power behind him… enough to squash a federal investigation."**

**"Wow. That's pretty scary. You think he had some reason for asking all those questions about the sheriff?"**

**Sherrie thought for a moment. "Probably not… Probably just being nosy… People like that make it their business to know everybody else's business. The less we tell him the better, I think… even if it seems innocent."**

**Lisa nodded. "Yeah, I'm glad you told me all this. I didn't know. I probably shouldn't have even told him who I was delivering to."**

**Sherrie shrugged. "I can't see how it can hurt. But don't tell him anything else. Make up something if you have to. I don't like him. He's not a nice person. The less he knows the better." **

**Lisa nodded her agreement.**

**One hour, two more coffees, and four more jelly donuts later, Judge Lewis was still sitting in his booth, occasionally tapping his fingers noisily on the table, obviously heavily absorbed in thought… or perhaps scheming, Lisa thought. Given what she now knew about the judge, she felt more and more bothered about the questions he had asked her earlier as each minute went by.**

**"Sherrie, can you watch my station for me for a little while? I think the worst of the rush is over now."**

**"Yeah, I guess so, why?"**

**Lisa took off her apron and headed for the back door. "I'm going to make sure I didn't make a big mistake earlier. I'll be back shortly."**

**Sherrie nodded.**

**Jim Valenti looked up from his desk, as someone walked in the front door, causing the little bell to ding.**

**"Lisa! What can I do for you?"**

**"I'm not sure, Sheriff. Maybe I'm just worrying too much, but Judge Lewis came into the CrashDown about an hour ago."**

**Jim smiled. "Well, I can understand your concern, Lisa, but there's not really anything I can do. He's got as much right as anyone else to go to a public place to eat."**

**Lisa smiled, too, understanding Jim's intentional pun. **

**"It's not just because he's in the CrashDown, Sheriff. He was asking a lot of questions… about you."**

**Jim leaned forward in his chair, and his voice took on a more serious tone.**

**"What did he want to know?"**

**"What Sherrie brought to you and why you wanted so much food. I told him maybe it was for your wife, too."**

**"Good," Jim said, nodding. "You're right. Amy was here. So was Deputy Cotter."**

**"Well, at first I didn't think so much of it, but then Sherrie told me who the judge was and a lot of things about him, and I got to thinking maybe I had made a mistake telling him anything. I thought you should know about it."**

**Jim nodded. "I really appreciate that, Lisa. You don't know how much! Believe me! But don't worry yourself any more about it, okay? You didn't do anything wrong. Probably the judge was just being nosy. He has a reputation for that. I imagine it was nothing. I really, really appreciate your letting me know, though."**

**Lisa smiled. "I just wanted to be sure… you know… that if I shouldn't have told him something you'd be warned about it… I guess it's silly."**

**Jim shook his head. "It's not silly, Lisa. With Judge Lewis… it's just precaution. I'm grateful! Really! Now go on back to work and don't worry any more. Put it all out of your mind. You did your duty. I'll keep my eyes open. Maybe you even gave me a heads up on something I wouldn't have known about."**

**Lisa smiled and left for the CrashDown. As soon as she was gone, Jim picked up his hat and headed for the third floor gym. He started to knock but then just yelled…**

**"Alex, let me in. It's the sheriff."**

**"What's the code, Sheriff?"**

**"Come on, Alex. There's no time for that now. We've got to move a little faster than I had planned to get you guys out of here."**

**Alex opened the door. "Did someone find out we're here?"**

**Jim shook his head. "Not yet. But Judge Lewis is in the CrashDown right now trying to fit all the pieces of the puzzle together. He's a no-good polecat, but he's a smart one… smart at figuring things out. It won't take him forever to put two and two together, and then he'll be over here with a search warrant before we know what hit us."**

**Alex swallowed and looked at Liz. Then he nodded. "Let's go, then, Sheriff. Get Liz out of here. We're not going to be sent back to that place again."**

**"Or worse," Jim said under his breath. "Come on."**

**Jim pushed Liz's wheelchair into the hall and into the elevator and pressed the down button.**

**"Where are we going, Sheriff?" Alex asked.**

**"Can't tell you yet," Jim said. "It's for your own safety. Trust me."**

**Alex nodded. "I've trusted you so far, Sheriff. I'll trust you all the way, I guess. Lead on."**

**Jim stopped Deputy Cotter in the first floor hallway and filled him in quickly.**

**"Check outside the door for me, Dave. Make sure it's clear."**

**Cotter looked outside casually then closed the door back. "It's clear, Sheriff."**

**"Okay." Jim took a deep breath then he reached down and picked Liz up out of her chair.**

**"Close the chair up, Dave. I'll put Liz in the SUV. You put the chair in the back. Alex, you just get yourself in… as quickly as possible without being seen."**

**Alex nodded without saying anything. Jim opened the door and walked quickly to the SUV carrying Liz. He laid her gently on the middle seat right behind the front seats, and Alex hopped in beside her. Dave Cotter threw the chair in the back then jumped into the front seat beside Jim.**

**"Who's going to watch the station," Cotter asked.**

**"Hansen just came on duty. He already knows."**

**Jim pulled away from the station and passed the CrashDown just as Judge Lewis was coming out. Judge Lewis watched the SUV go by but only saw Jim and Dave in the front seats. Alex was staying down, as he had been told to do, and Liz was lying on the seat. Judge Lewis scowled and looked at the street then back at the SUV.**

**"What ya runnin' from, Jim? I know a decoy when I see one. You want me to think you're up to something so I'll chase after you and… and what? What are you hiding, Jim? Something in that sheriff's building, isn't it? Something that eats cheeseburgers and drinks strawberry milkshakes and Snapples, I'd bet." Judge Lewis stopped suddenly and looked as though a light had suddenly come on in his head.**

**"You son of a…! I knew it! Those body bags… the cheeseburgers… They're still alive! You've been hiding those kids in the station. Now I know what's been bothering me so much. You! You should have been over there at my office days ago trying to blame me for their deaths. You should have been pounding on my desk… telling me how it should have been me that was shot… but you weren't. No… you looked grieved alright. You even cried tears. But you screwed up, Jim. You didn't come after me. That was your one mistake."**

**Judge Lewis ran –as fast as his bloated body could run with 9 large jelly donuts and 3 large coffees sloshing around inside him- to his car. But he didn't chase after Jim. He was convinced that Jim was trying to decoy him away from the sheriff's office. Within the hour, Judge Lewis had his search warrant, and ten minutes later, he walked in the front door and ceremoniously plopped it down on the desk in front of Hansen, with a dozen state police behind him.**

**"What's this, Judge?" Hansen asked.**

**"This, Mr. Hansen, is what's going to free me of Sheriff Jim Valenti forever. It's a search warrant, and I'm searching this building."**

**"You could have just asked, Hansen said. I'd have arranged a tour. We have a special rate for a dozen or more. You just qualify."**

**Judge Lewis' mouth dropped open.**

**"I think he meant with us, your honor," the state trooper beside him said.**

**"Of course he meant with you! What else would he mean?" Judge Lewis glared at the trooper.**

**"Joke all you want, Hansen, but joking won't save Jim's sorry ass now. This place is locked down. A rat couldn't get out of here right now without me knowing it! What Jim is hiding in here will soon be known to the world, and his involvement in the sordid kidnapping of those poor children will put him in prison for the rest of his sorry life!"**

**                                          ************

**Jim pulled through the gate and drove down the small dirt road past the orchards and small canals, finally stopping in front of a simple-looking, inconspicuous house. He had arrived at his destination. Turning the vehicle off, he looked back at his passengers.**

**"Stay down for a few more minutes. Then it should be alright to get up."**

**Jim got out of the SUV, and an old man with long white hair walked out of the house to meet him.**

**Jim nodded to the old man. "Thank you for agreeing to do this for me."**

**The old man nodded back. "It is only for you that I would do this, Jim. You saved my life once. I owe you for that. But now we are even."**

**"Now we are even," Jim agreed.**

**"I will keep my shades down… and they must always stay out of sight… until they are safe again and can leave. Those who live here take very seriously the curse of the ancestors, Sheriff."**

**"I know, River Dog. I know they do. And for that reason I am all the more grateful for your help."**

**"Mmm… as well you should be… and I am grateful for yours… so they may stay. I have purified the air with peyote and other herbs of my people. It will prevent the ancestors from looking inside my house… for a while. But the other Mesaliko apachii who live on this reservation would not be pleased with my decision, so the boy and the girl must always stay out of sight while they are here."**

**"I'll make sure that they know," Jim said.**

**"Then it is agreed," River Dog said, reaching out his hand and taking Jim's in a firm handshake that took in his entire hand up to his wrist.**

**"It is agreed," Jim replied.**

**Deputy Cotter took the wheelchair out of the SUV and carried it into the house, and Jim carried Liz inside and set her in the chair.**

**"You'll be safe here, Liz. River Dog will take good care of you. He's a stern man, and he can be intimidating, but he's fair and honest and good… and he will keep his word. I'll check back on you from time to time to see if you need anything."**

**"Thank you, Sheriff."**

**"Yeah! That goes for me, too," Alex said. "I don't know what to say."**

**"Well, don't say anything, Alex. Just take good care of Liz for me."**

**Alex smiled. "I'll do that. I promise."**

**"I know you will," Jim nodded. He shut the door behind him and walked quickly back to the SUV. Deputy Cotter was already in his seat. Jim started the vehicle, took one last look at the house, and drove away.**

**                                         ************

**"Call ahead next time, Judge," Hansen yelled after Judge Lewis, as Judge Lewis left the sheriff's station in frustration with the twelve state troopers behind him. "I'll arrange a better tour next time. We can have some donuts on hand… and Jim's famous coffee."**

**"If I wanted to get poisoned, I'd just drink arsenic," Judge Lewis yelled back with a tone of arrogance that belied his frustration.**

**"Judge, you're going to have to write a report on this search," the highest-ranking trooper, standing next to him, said.**

**"I'm not writing any report; you're writing a report," Judge Lewis corrected. "And be sure I look good in it. We found evidence that those children had been there."**

**"What evidence? Wrappings off of some cheeseburgers and a couple of soda bottles? Like the deputy said, probably just the Sheriff and his wife were up there eating after he exercised in the gym. That's not evidence."**

**Judge Lewis winced. "Jim may think he's beat me… but you mark my word… he's only begun to see what I'm capable of."**

**                                         ************

**As the night fell and the crickets began to chirp outside, Liz rolled her wheelchair over beside the window.**

**"You can't open the shades, Liz," Alex reminded her. "The taboo, you know."**

**"I know." Liz sighed, then she lifted the bottom of the shade just a bit and looked out at the stars. They were twinkling so brightly in the sky. Liz sniffed and her eyes teared up.**

**"What's the matter, Liz," Alex asked.**

**Liz shook her head. "Nothing. I was just thinking… the stars are so beautiful tonight. I wonder if Max can see them wherever he is."**

**Alex put his arm around Liz and kissed her on the forehead. "He could be watching those same stars as we speak, Liz. We'll find him some day. We will. You just have to have faith."**

**Liz nodded and smiled.**

**Three houses and about a stone's throw away, another figure sat looking under the shades at the stars from his bedroom in another house.**

**"You looking for your planet, Max?"**

**Max smiled and turned around. "No, Angie Lee… I'm just looking at the stars. They're bright tonight."**

**"That's a good omen," Angie Lee said. "It means you're close to the one you love."**

**Max looked down, and a tear dropped onto his hand. "In my heart… I've never stopped being. I guess that's why the stars are shining so brightly, huh? You think Liz could be watching these same stars tonight… wherever she is?"**

**Angie Lee nodded. "I'd bet on it… and probably wondering if you're watching them, too. The myths of our people –these people- say that if you reach up and take one of the stars from the sky to give to your love, you will be with her soon."**

**Max smiled. "Then I'll surely have to find a way to get one, won't I?"**

**Angie Lee nodded and smiled. "Good night, Max. Good night, Rahn." Then she closed the door and went to check on Maria and Isabel, leaving Max alone with his thoughts.**

**tbc**

**Coming Up: Judge Lewis' claims that Alex and Liz are still alive cause a stir, with two sides having different feelings about the matter… and very different ideas about what to do about it.**


	21. Dreams20

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Ghosts & Other Strange Visions**

**Chapter 20**

**XX******

**"W****hat are you saying, Judge… that the sheriff somehow brought those two kids back from the grave? They're dead! Judge, you've been a great help to us so far. Don't ruin your credibility now!"**

**"No, Colonel! They're not dead."**

**"Judge… whatever you may believe notwithstanding, those kids are dead! We… I mean… somebody… took care of that. And that somebody… well, let's just say that that somebody has unimpeachable credibility. We've verified the information, so unless that sheriff of yours can bring dead people back to life, you're just wasting my time right now."**

**"Suit yourself, Colonel. But it seems to me they were supposed to be 'dead' once before and your information turned out to be wrong… or did somebody bring them back to life then, too?"**

**There was a long silence before the colonel spoke again.**

**"The details couldn't be verified with sufficient certainty that time. There was mass confusion because of the circumstances… the graduation. This time one of our own people… uh… verified the information for us. They're dead." **

**There was a pause, then the colonel added, "Not that we had anything to do with that unfortunate incident, of course… or the unfortunate incident at the center either."**

**"Uh huh. Well, tell that to Congress, Colonel, when you or that general of yours get called in to explain… whatever you may have to explain."**

**Again there was a long silence.**

**"Judge, what makes you so sure they're not dead? Have you seen them?"**

**"No, of course not. The sheriff has them hidden away somewhere."**

**"Then how do you know they're alive… if you haven't seen them…? Has anyone else seen them… anyone who would back you up?"**

**"Just the sheriff… and maybe his deputy… and his wife."**

**"In other words… no one who would back you up. It would just be your word against theirs."**

**This time, it was Judge Lewis who was silent.**

**"I ask you again… what makes you think they're alive, Judge?"**

**Judge Lewis groaned. "It's a feeling… no, no… more than a feeling! I know Jim Valenti. It's hard to explain."**

**"Hard to explain… and you want me to take your… hard to explain 'feeling' over the word of one of our best men. Is that what you're saying? Are you saying that one of our best men lied?"**

**"No… no, of course not, Colonel."**

**"Then what are you saying, Judge?"**

**"I don't know… Hell! Maybe he made a mistake. Maybe they tricked him…"**

**"We don't make mistakes like that, Judge… and we aren't so easily tricked as you might be. Look, Judge, when you have something real to go on, give me a call. Until then, don't waste our time. The only reason I'm letting you off easy this time is because of the value of your assistance to us in the past. But if your conscience is bothering you or those kids' ghosts are haunting you in your sleep, don't expect us to come running! Call an exorcist… or a priest if you know one… or try Ghostbusters.com. You do know how to use a computer don't you? I'm sure you'll find someone there who believes you and will be more than happy to waste their time hunting your ghosts down… for a price. Good night, Judge."**

**The line went dead, and Judge Lewis exhaled a deep breath of air along with several curses he had been holding in. "Fool! You don't know Jim Valenti. You don't know these kids. They'll have your ass on a spit, and don't say I didn't try to warn you. Damn moron!"**

**                                         ************

**Miles from either Judge Lewis' office or the army base, an old Indian with long white hair sat on a chair in front of his simple house on the Mesaliko Indian Reservation, his back against the house and his chair leaning back on its two back legs, whittling on a long hollow reed of some kind. He looked up as someone approached. Then he looked back down at his whittling.**

**"Brother," the newcomer said, addressing the old Indian in the chair. "Are you hiding something from the ancestors again? Your curtains are drawn."**

**"It is cooler with the curtains drawn," River Dog answered without looking up. "These are hot days, Gray Hawk."**

**"Mmm." The other Indian mumbled. "Yes, the days can be very hot."**

**River Dog ran his knife over the reed in his hand again and made another notch in something that appeared to be shaping up to be a flute of sorts. **

**"I see your house suffers from the heat, too, these days, Gray Hawk," he said nonchalantly. **

**"It is as you say, brother. It is cooler in the house with the curtains drawn."**

**River Dog nodded. "So nasedo would have nothing to do with it?"**

**"I would not wish to risk the wrath of the ancestors, River Dog… A'in Ji Lii is not nasedo. Would you risk the ancestors' wrath?"**

**"No, I would not," River Dog replied calmly. "The ancestors know that I heed their warnings." **

**River Dog might have had his fingers crossed when he said this… if he had been accustomed to that gesture. But he satisfied his conscience by telling himself that the "guests" in his house were not nasedo -not visitors- at least not of the "stranger" kind… not anymore. He knew them now. Gray Hawk, in turn, excused his own ignoring of the ancestors' warning by telling himself that his houseguests were friends of his protégée, A'in ji Lii, and therefore not "visitors" of the "stranger" type either. However, neither River Dog nor Gray Hawk felt sufficiently comfortable with their conviction to mention their "guests" to the other.**

**River Dog had long ago accepted the presence of A'in ji Lii in Gray Hawk's house, as had many, if not most, of the other Mesaliko on the reservation… after a time. But no one knew how the ancestors would feel about her being there, so Gray Hawk hedged his bets by occasionally blowing dried peyote and other herbs into the air in his house in order to keep any ancestors who might just "happen to look in" feeling good… and maybe blur their sight a bit… just enough so that they would not notice that his ward had light skin… or that she had green eyes… or that she had yellow hair. It was amazing what a little bit of dried cactus button, ground into a fine powder, could do. With enough peyote in the air, Gray Hawk could probably have housed all the soldiers in the army without the ancestors seeing them… if that were something that he was inclined to do… but he was not. Gray Hawk, like his brother, River Dog, knew that the ancestors' warnings were always given for a reason. Gray Hawk and River Dog might hedge on their definition of a "visitor" if it seemed convenient and suited their purposes to do so, but neither brother would intentionally put himself or his tribe at risk.**

**                                          ************

**As River Dog and Gray Hawk were speaking in front of River Dog's house, a mere three houses away, inside Gray Hawk's house, Max was pacing the floor restlessly. He would sit down… then he would stand up again and look out beneath the curtains. Then he would resume his pacing. **

**"I can't stay here like this, Michael. I need to get out. There are things I need to do."**

**Michael looked up at Max. "Well, we aren't locked in, Max. But do you really want to cause Gray Hawk problems by being seen coming and going from his house… you know… given the taboo and all? He was pretty nice to let us stay here." **

**"We promised Angie Lee's grandfather we wouldn't leave the house," Isabel said, agreeing with Michael.**

**"I didn't promise not to leave," Max replied. "I merely promised to keep out of sight so that others wouldn't see us here. Anyway, we also promised him that we wouldn't stay very long."**

**"That's true," Isabel said. "But… where will we go, Max?"**

**Max shook his head. "If we go back home… and are seen… the army will be after us by nightfall, and we will have put our families in mortal danger."**

**"We can't do that," Isabel agreed.**

**"No, we can't," Max said. "But we have to go somewhere. I need to find Liz, and I can't do it if I'm stuck inside this house."**

**"I want Mom to know I'm okay," Maria said. "I can't imagine what she must've gone through. She must think that I'm… dead."**

**Max looked at Maria, and his look softened a bit. "We're all dead, Maria. I'm sure of it. The army made sure of that. We were never supposed to return. You… you actually were dead when they brought you to the lab, Maria… at least by human standards. Both of you were… and Michael nearly was…" **

**Max took a deep breath and sat down then looked at Michael, Maria, and Isabel. "They didn't know I could still heal you. They were probably going to dissect us all in the lab. If they had known I would recover and heal the three of you, they would have put more guards on the door."**

**"I wondered why there was only one guard when we tried to escape the first time," Isabel said. "…and he looked like he was seeing a ghost when we walked out." **

**"Four ghosts," Max corrected. "That guy just stood there gawking; he was a pushover. If there hadn't been a bunch of fresh guards coming on duty right at that moment, we might have escaped the first time and not had to go through… any of… what we did." **

**Max looked away. It was hard for him to reflect on what they had been through, and it was especially hard for him to think about Maria and Isabel going through it. But he knew they had. He had been able to hear their screams. Max and Michael had been kept drugged and thoroughly restrained to prevent them from using their powers when any of the "lab attendants" were in the set of rooms that the four occupied. If either one could have moved, he would have vaporized their torturers on the spot. **

**There were four rooms in the underground "suite." One of them was set up as a lab, and it was kept locked up except when in use. The other three rooms were basically adjoining storage rooms, with one bathroom between them. There were no beds. There were no covers. There was only the hard floor to sit or sleep on, and it was usually cold, being far under ground as it was. Every day was a struggle just to survive there. And Max knew that they had not yet even begun to experience the worst of what had been planned for them. No! Getting caught again was not an option. But if they left Gray Hawk's house too soon, without knowing where they would go, getting caught was all too real a possibility, and this frustrated Max. The need to be searching for Liz was overpowering his senses… but he didn't want to risk Maria or Isabel's lives… or Michael's either for that matter… because of a rash decision on his part to satisfy his own needs.**

**"Rahn…" Max said hesitantly, standing back up and starting to pace again… "Who would notice if a bat flew out of here at night… or maybe a small bird in the daytime… something that's common here? You could go anywhere and search for Liz… and bring information back…"**

**"Yes, I can do that," Rahn said, happy to be able to help. "What would you like me to do, Zan?"**

**"Find out about our parents… find out if they're all alright… and find Liz… or find out where she is. Then… return here and tell us. Can you do that?"**

**"Of course. It is a simple request. Should I go now?"**

**Max nodded. "Now… or as soon as you're ready."**

**"I'm always ready," Rahn said, beginning to change his form even as he spoke. Max cracked the front door just a bit and peeked outside to see if all was clear, then he turned to look for Rahn. As he did, something small and fast ran past him and out the door. **

**"Beep Beep!"**

**Max watched, with his mouth open, as the brownish bird with a long tail ran down the dirt road a short distance then launched itself, somewhat clumsily, into the air. Then he turned and looked at Isabel and Maria, who was hiding her face in her hands and trying very hard to stifle a laugh. Isabel had her hand over Maria's head, pointing.**

**"It was Maria."**

**Max nodded and mumbled, "Children." **

**                                            ************

**Jeff Parker opened the window at the back of the CrashDown Café's kitchen and wiped his brow with the back of his hand as he –and the spatula in his hand- cooled down.**

**"It's hot in here."**

**It's hot outside," Nancy said, just walking in to check on him. "You should let one of the girls do the cooking for a while, Jeff. Take a break. Go upstairs and relax in the air conditioning for a few minutes… or an hour."**

**"Can't do that, Nancy. I need them on the floor out there. Besides, who can cook hamburgers better than me, huh?"**

**"You really need to hire another cook," Nancy said. "You haven't let anybody else cook since… since the Guerin boy…"**

**A flutter of wings attracted Nancy's attention as she spoke, and she turned around to look. A brownish bird with a long tail had perched itself in the open window.**

**"You're looking in the wrong place if you're looking for a place to get cool," Jeff joked. **

**The bird just stood there.**

**"Oh, well, suit yourself." Jeff handed Nancy a piece of bread, and she tossed a piece to the bird, which dutifully ate it off of the windowsill.**

**"Well, Michael Guerin was alright as a cook," Jeff, said. "He could get it right… not always the first time, mind you… but I never saw anybody do a recook faster than he could. I wish I still had him here now. Maybe that sounds strange."**

**Nancy shook her head. "It's not strange… We both miss them, Jeff… all of them. It's the memories…"**

**Jeff nodded, and his eyes teared up a bit.**

**"I guess that's it. They were Liz's friends. I still don't want to believe that Liz isn't… coming back. It's just not right, Nancy. After all she went through. She was finally getting better. She was getting well… against all the odds… until Judge Lewis had her locked up in that damned… insane asylum."**

**As Jeff mentioned the name, "Judge Lewis," he brought the spatula down hard, like an ax, on the counter, startling the bird in the window and causing it to jump.**

**"Sorry if I scared you, little guy," Jeff said. "I wasn't going to chop you up… That was for someone else I was thinking about… in the snake family. But you should know all about that. Your kind kills rattlesnakes, don't they? Maybe I could borrow you for a day. If I showed you a big, fat, ass-ugly rattlesnake, would you smack it against a rock for me?"**

**Nancy ignored Jeff's self-humoring "chat" with the bird and continued her conversation. "Do you think they'll ever catch the person who killed Liz and Alex in that place, Jeff?" **

**Jeff stopped and looked at Nancy sadly. He didn't have to answer. Nancy wasn't really expecting him to.**

**"I still don't understand any of this, Jeff," Nancy said. "Roswell used to be a peaceful place. After the shooting at graduation, this town just went to Hell. I don't understand it. What does Judge Lewis want out of this? He had to know Liz wasn't dealing drugs. Neither was that boy, Alex Whitman. Even I could see the judge was lying through his teeth. But why? Why did he hate Liz? Liz never hurt anybody."**

**Jeff leaned on the counter with both hands and hung his head for a moment, then without warning, he grabbed the butcher knife beside him and threw it at the wall in frustration. The knife stuck in the wall, cleanly severing the cord that had held the window up… and the window fell with a thud… on top of the bird.**

**Nancy gasped. **

**The roadrunner's wing could be seen crushed beneath the window, as the bird itself dangled just off the ledge outside. Jeff stepped toward the window to raise it, but before he could, the bird's right wing, which was trapped under the window, began to change. The feathers were disappearing, turning into something that looked like… skin. Slowly, the whole trapped wing began to look more like an arm and a hand. They were too small for a human… but downright large –not to mention odd- for a roadrunner. The arm, or the hand on the end of it, pushed the window back up a bit, enough for the bird to get free and its wing to quickly return to normal. But as the bird leapt and spread its wings, hoping that it would still be able to fly, something jerked it brusquely back into the room… then the window was slammed shut. **

**tbc**

**Coming Up: Time to talk.  **


	22. Dreams21

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Time To Talk**

**Chapter 21**

**XXI******

**R****ahn had been jerked back through the window into the kitchen of the CrashDown, and the window had been slammed shut, momentarily preventing his escape. Jeff held the strange bird up by the tail and stared at it. It looked like any other roadrunner, he thought, and Lord knows, roadrunners are common enough in Roswell in the summer months… in fact, they're common most of the year. But this bird was something different. Jeff knew this for a fact. What he had just seen could not happen… but it had, and he was going to know what it all meant. Deep in his mind, Jeff suspected, even without realizing that he was thinking it, that somehow this bird held the key to a lot of the mysteries in Roswell recently… graduation, Judge Lewis, the army, Max, Michael, Maria, and Isabel's deaths and the disappearances of their bodies… and maybe even what had happened to Liz and Alex. The answers to everything somehow lay in this common-looking little bird with a long tail… Now Jeff was going to have his answers… and nothing but nothing was going to deny him that.**

**Dangling from Jeff's hand by his foot-long tail, Rahn was at first in shock. Then he began to think of escape. He could turn into a giant python… or a rampaging bull… No… These were not people whom he wished to harm… even inadvertently. He would have to think of something else.**

**"Alright," Jeff said, dropping the bird onto his counter and standing over it threateningly, "now you're going to tell me what you are. Then you're going to tell me what you were really doing here… in my window." Jeff felt a twinge of embarrassment at talking to a bird as though it could talk back to him… much less understand him. But he had seen what he had seen…**

**"Okay, that might be one solution," Rahn admitted to himself. It was certainly not the one he had expected or wished for, but… he could simply confess everything. The question was… could these people handle the answers? Nancy was still standing speechless right where she had been standing when Jeff had grabbed Rahn by the tail and pulled him into the CrashDown's kitchen. But Jeff… Jeff seemed very determined. Rahn suspected that Jeff was afraid, too, deep down inside. Who wouldn't be, coming face to face with something that was totally alien to them so unexpectedly. But if Jeff was afraid, he wasn't showing it. In fact, Rahn had to admit that the determination in Jeff's face… and the meat cleaver in his hand… intimidated HIM more than a little. Briefly, he considered turning into a mouse and running away, but as he looked at the meat cleaver in Jeff's hand again, he decided that turning into something even smaller might be a very bad idea.**

**Jeff took a step back involuntarily, as the bird began to stretch and expand, then its feathers began to disappear. Its legs grew longer and began to look… human. Arms replaced its wings, and the head began to change. Realizing what was happening, Jeff grabbed a kitchen towel and threw it over Rahn's lap, but in the end, he needn't have. As he watched, the legs, arms, and body seemed to "grow" clothes… clothes that fit perfectly and looked just like Jeff's own clothing. The creature and its clothes seemed, in fact, to be made of the same… well… whatever this creature was made of. It was somehow simply growing… a new skin.**

**"Who are you," Jeff asked hesitantly, not really sure that he was going to like the answer.**

**"Wha- what are you," Nancy asked, finally finding her own voice, which was still a bit shaky.**

**"My name is Rahn." **

**The man-bird spoke! It spoke in perfect English! **

**Rahn looked at Nancy. "As for 'what' I am, I'm not sure that you would understand. I am sorry that we have had to meet this way. It is not what I would have wished."**

**"You're not human," Jeff said. He wasn't sure if he was stating a fact or asking a question. No… No… of course it's not human. It can't be human.**

**"What are you? Answer the question… Rahn."**

**Rahn looked Jeff in the eyes then looked at Nancy. "I am a member of another civilization… one that does not… come from earth."**

**"You're an alien…?" **

**Again, Jeff wasn't sure if he was asking a question or stating the obvious. It's just that the "obvious" was so… unlikely. An alien… in Roswell! The very thought seemed somehow ludicrous. He wasn't sure why. Maybe because the residents themselves had fostered that "myth." Aliens were supposed to be here in Roswell. A lot of Roswell's citizens capitalized on their presence here. Even Jeff's own business, the "CrashDown" capitalized on the alien theme. But real aliens? Jeff shook his head. There weren't supposed to be real aliens. Not any more… if there ever were. Whatever had crashed here back in 1947 had been taken away by the army many years before. Everything else was just theory and supposition. It gave conspiracy buffs and sci-fi geeks a reason to come here and spend their money and the residents a way to get their money. There weren't any real live aliens living in Roswell. **

**But then… what was Rahn?**

**Rahn slid off of the counter and stood on the floor facing Jeff. He was about the same height as Jeff. He was about the same build as Jeff. Rahn did have lighter hair and a slightly lighter complexion. His face… did not look threatening. It looked somehow kind and reassuring.**

**"Okay… Rahn…" Jeff said. "Let's start from the beginning… wherever that is. Why are you here? What were you doing in my window? I'm inclined to believe that your being here was not an accident."**

**Rahn swallowed and tried to consider the consequences of giving away any information. Rahn was no coward. If someone else had been asking, he would have been quite capable of telling them nothing. The army had tortured him for decades, and he had given them nothing. But… this man was a friend. He just didn't know it yet. Rahn considered… and then made his decision.**

**"Zan sent me."**

**Jeff's face registered no emotion. Obviously this name meant nothing to him.**

**"I think… I think you know him as… Max… Evans."**

**Nancy gasped and her hand went instinctively to her mouth. This name did mean something to them. Jeff had flushed, and his mouth was open now.**

**"Max Evans? Max Evans sent you? Where is he? When did you see Max?"**

**"I left him about an hour ago. I can't tell you where he is. It would be dangerous for you to know… and for him if you knew."**

**"But… Max is alive?"**

**"He is alive," Rahn said. "He wishes to find Liz, and he wishes to know if his parents and her parents… that is you… are… okay."**

**Jeff nodded but then shook his head. "No! No, we're not okay! How can we be okay after what they did to Liz?"**

**"I heard you talking," Rahn said… "about her… and about Alex. He was her friend?"**

**Jeff nodded. "Alex was a friend of Max's, too."**

**"Then… they are both…"**

**"Dead," Jeff said. "I'll say it. Judge Lewis killed them."**

**"Doesn't your society have laws against… killing?"**

**Jeff sneered. "Judge Lewis doesn't care about laws. He is the law. He gets what he wants."**

**"I think I understand," Rahn said.**

**"No, you don't." Jeff shook his head. "Oh, Judge Lewis didn't pull the trigger, but he had Liz and Alex sent off to that… insane asylum, and he banned us and the sheriff from having any contact with them. He fixed it so someone else could kill them, Rahn, and I want to know why! I think you can tell me that. Why did Judge Lewis want Liz dead? And why did those guys from the army shoot her and those other kids at graduation? Tell me that if you can!"**

**Rahn looked uncomfortable, but he answered Jeff's question. "For the same reason they wanted me dead." **

**Jeff stood silently for a moment, digesting this information. Then he shook his head slowly…**

**"Wait… okay, you're an alien… Maybe they thought they were protecting the earth from some kind of… alien invasion or something. I could understand that, even if they're a bunch of knee-jerk idiots… but Liz was no alien… Max was no alien…"**

**"Zan is only half of this earth," Rahn replied. "He is also half Antarian. He is the true king… of our planet."**

**Jeff began to laugh, and Rahn, finding his reaction odd, appeared confused.**

**"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! MAX? MAXWELL EVANS? …is the king… on your planet?"**

**"He was the true king. He was deposed by a tyrant named Kivar."**

**"Oh, your planet has those, too?"**

**Jeff looked at Rahn, and, slowly, he realized that Rahn was being truthful. Rahn did not appear to be enjoying this or trying to put anything over.**

**"So… Uh uh! No! I can't… He's just a kid! He just graduated from high school. How could he be a king… of anywhere? And if Max was… what… half alien? Wouldn't the army be…?"**

**Jeff stopped suddenly, having answered his own question. His face flushed again.**

**"Max is half… alien? Why… why didn't anybody know?"**

**"Somebody knew," Rath said quietly.**

**Jeff's mouth dropped again… "Liz?"**

**Rahn nodded. "Liz… yes."**

**"Liz knew everything? She… she knew… Did she know that the army would come after him?"**

**"She knew… everything… after the shooting."**

**"Graduation? But she was shot herself at graduation!"**

**Rahn shook his head. "Not graduation. The other shooting… Here."**

**"In the CrashDown?" **

**Suddenly it all came back to Jeff, and his knees started to buckle. Rahn reached out to keep Jeff from falling, but he regained his balance on his own. Then he sat down.**

**"Liz was shot! When those two guys were fighting in the CrashDown a few years ago… she was shot! My God. I always thought… but I put it out of my mind. She seemed like she was okay, so I thought… she couldn't have been shot. It had to just be ketchup like she said. We all believed that. Max was hovering over her. Then the sheriff got very interested in Liz for a while. He followed her around… asking questions about the shooting… lots of questions. Eventually, it all died down. He asked a lot of questions about Max Evans, too. What did Max do to her, Rahn? What did he do to Liz?"**

**"He brought her back to life," Rahn said.**

**There was a small thud, as Nancy collapsed on the floor. Jeff rushed to help her.**

**"I'm okay," Nancy said, her voice shaking, as she regained consciousness. "I'm okay."**

**"Can you stand up," Jeff asked.**

**"Just let me lie here for a while, Dear. I… I'd rather not stand up right now."**

**Jeff looked back up at Rahn. "Liz was… dead then?" Jeff asked again, as though he still thought he might have heard wrong.**

**"Not dead by Antarian standards," Rahn explained. "only by your standards on earth. Max can heal… but not after one is… gone."**

**"So he healed Liz… then he told her who he was?"**

**"My understanding is that she figured it out."**

**Jeff nodded. "Liz would. She's smart. She… was… smart…" Jeff choked for a moment. "She would have pursued him until he told her the truth. I know that."**

**Jeff thought for several moments. "Rahn… why did Max send you? Why didn't he come himself?"**

**Rahn started to answer, but Jeff answered his own question for him.**

**"It's the army, isn't it? They're after him."**

**Rahn nodded. "He escaped from the base. I was with him. We found our way to freedom. For now, we must remain where we are."**

**"I understand. Was it just… the two of you?"**

**Rahn was silent for several moments, then he shook his head. "There were five of us."**

**"Who?" Jeff asked. "Who else was with you? More aliens… from your planet?"**

**Rahn wasn't sure how to answer this for a moment. "More… prisoners… from the base," he said finally.**

**"Okay. Was one of them Michael Guerin?"**

**Rahn nodded.**

**"Was one of them… Isabel Evans?"**

**Rahn nodded.**

**"Was one of them… Maria… Maria DeLuca?"**

**Rahn nodded, and Nancy, who was still lying on the floor, let out a small but audible gasp.**

**"My God, Rahn, Amy has to know! She has to! She risked her life to try to find Maria, and everyone thought she was… well, deluded. If Maria is still alive, she has to know!"**

**"The more people know," Rahn warned, "the more danger she will be in… and the more danger the others will be in."**

**"Well, I understand that," Jeff said, "but her mother!"**

**"She will know the truth soon," Rahn said. "It is important that no one else know these things for now. I hope I have not made a mistake telling you."**

**"I'll… We'll keep the secret," Jeff said. "But not forever, Rahn. Max must do whatever it is he has to do so that they can be safe. Amy will have to be told… soon."**

**Rahn nodded again. "I must go back to Zan and tell him the one thing that will kill him… that his chosen one has died. I do not wish to do this."**

**Jeff's face softened, as he looked at Rahn's anguish. Perhaps for the first time, he saw something else in this "man-bird," something which he did recognize… humanity. Jeff put his arm around Rahn's shoulder, and his own eyes teared up. "She was my daughter, Rahn. I loved her, too."**

**                                            *************

**On the Mesaliko Indian Reservation, darkness had come. The sun had gone down three hours before. Outside, the crickets were chirping, tree frogs were singing, and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. Inside the house, there was silence. No one spoke. There was little to say. Maria tried to sleep, but she tossed and turned and flipped her pillow over repeatedly, trying to find the driest wet side, as the tears fell silently on it. Isabel lay on her bed looking at the ceiling in silence. Sleep escaped her. Michael and Rahn were sitting on their beds, thinking. **

**Max slipped on his pants and shirt and headed for the door.**

**"Where are you going," Michael asked.**

**"Out… for some air. No one will see me. I can't stay in here any longer."**

**"I'll go with you," Michael said.**

**Max shook his head. "No. You stay here. I need to be alone."**

**Max cracked the door and peeked outside. No one was out, so he edged out the door and quickly walked across the dirt road then down the path toward the river. He didn't have to go far. The river was only a short distance away. Five minutes later, Max stood on the river bank, tears rolling down his cheeks.**

**For a time, Max stood silently, reflecting on his life with Liz, occasionally looking up at the stars then down at the deep darkness of the river's waters below. Then he sat down beside a large rock and took off his shoes and shirt, placing them neatly beside the rock. He took one final look up at the stars and took a deep breath then stood up. As he did, a faint noise attracted his attention. It was almost inaudible, but Max's hearing was excellent. **

**Fearful that if he made any noise himself, whoever might be coming would find out about them staying in Gray Hawk's house, Max decided to sit back down behind the rock until he knew if it was a person or an animal… or just the wind blowing in the leaves. He waited… The noise, though soft, grew steadily louder. It didn't sound like footsteps. It was more like something being dragged stealthily down the path. It was much closer now. From the sound of it, it could be a bear, he thought… or someone dragging a dead body to throw in the river. Max huddled out of sight behind the rock. **

**The noise stopped just on the other side of the rock. Whatever it was, it had decided to rest there. Just his luck! Max waited silently. Five minutes passed… then ten. He wondered when the bear would leave. He figured it wasn't someone dragging a dead body… They would have thrown it in the river by now and left. But there was still the small chance that it could be someone dragging a canoe or something. He waited. Max looked up at the stars above. They were shining so brightly… they seemed to pop out of the sky. He almost felt like if he just reached up… What was it that Angie Lee had said to him… "When the stars are so bright…" yes, he did feel closer to Liz now. It was a strange feeling… a tingle that ran through him from head to toe. "And if you reach up and take a star from the sky, you will soon be with the one you love." Max reached up toward the sky, framing a star inside his cupped hand…**

**"Ah-choo…"**

**Max stopped and listened intently. That was a pretty small sneeze for a bear.**

**"Excuse me," someone behind the rock added quietly, probably out of habit. **

**"Excuse me?" When did bears… Max felt a tingle surge over his whole body. He'd know that voice anywhere! Max jumped up and rushed to the other side of the rock, almost tripping over his own feet in his haste. **

**Sitting on the other side, in a wheelchair, was Liz, with her back to him. She was looking up at the stars, lost in her thoughts. Liz reached one hand up… toward a particularly bright star, and as she did, a hand took hers and closed it around the star.**

**Even in the starlight, Liz recognized Max's hand… its feel… the tingle it gave her. She spun around in her chair, almost overturning it, and Max scooped her up into his arms. **

**"Max! Omigod, Max! Omigod!" Liz cried over and over, wrapping her own arms tightly around Max and smothering him with kisses. "I've missed you so much! I knew you were alive! I knew it! I always knew it! But I thought I might never see you again."**

**Max hugged Liz to himself and kissed her face, her hair, her neck, her hands… as tears of pure joy ran down his cheeks.**

**"I knew you were alive, too, Liz," he said breathlessly. "I felt you. I always have! I was told that you were dead… and for a while, I thought maybe I was feeling you, because… because I couldn't let you go. But deep inside, I knew it was you I was feeling, not just a memory. I came down here to be closer to you… to try to be near you. And I thought I'd take a swim to relax… maybe help me to sleep. It's been kind of a… a rough day."**

**Liz pressed her lips to Max's and kissed him with all the passion that had been pent up inside her for so long. After several minutes, she pulled back and smiled, running her hands lovingly over his face. "Did that help any, Max?"**

**"A lot! But I think I'm gonna need intensive therapy tonight… all night."**

**Liz smiled. "I can handle that." **

**Max thought that the smile on Liz's face rivaled the stars in lighting up the night.**

**"Liz, where in the world did you come from? What are you doing here… on the reservation?"**

**"I'm staying in River Dog's house… with Alex. You remember River Dog. Sheriff Valenti arranged it… It's kind of a long story."**

**"I know what happened to you," Max said. "I heard already."**

**"Max… where did you come from? I can't believe you actually found me here!"**

**"I'm staying in Gray Hawk's house… with Michael, Isabel, Rahn… and Maria."**

**Liz gasped, and her smile grew even larger if that was possible. **

**"Omigod, I knew she was alive! I saw her! And Michael and Isabel are okay, too! But who's Rahn?"**

**"You'll meet him. You think maybe we could swap him for you tonight?"**

**Liz smiled. "Why don't you send Isabel over to stay with Alex… and I'll come over to where you're staying."**

**Max smiled. "I guess I'll have to fill Gray Hawk in… and River Dog. Gray Hawk said something about River Dog having his curtains all drawn. He was suspicious, but he thought it was just because of the heat."**

**"Can you walk, Liz?"**

**"No." Liz shook her head. "I haven't been able to move my legs since… graduation night."**

**Max ran his hand up and down Liz's back, while still supporting her in his arms. "When we get back to the house, I'll see what I can do. It's more than I can handle out here."**

**"Would you push me back, Max?"**

**Max smiled. "I've got a better idea." He picked Liz up in his arms. "I'll send Rahn back for the chair later. He can slip out of the house without being noticed."**

**Liz put her arms around Max's neck, and her body relaxed in his arms. She looked at his face… God! How much she had missed it! And she looked at the stars. They were bright tonight… very bright… and oh so beautiful.**

**tbc**

**Coming Up: Rahn gets to deliver good news… to Jeff and Nancy Parker… and to Jim and Amy. **


	23. Dreams22

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Starry Nights & Apache Justice**

**Chapter 22**

**XXII******

**M****ax tapped lightly on Gray Hawk's front door with his right foot. A moment later, the door opened a crack, and Michael looked out. Seeing Max's face, he quickly opened the door wide enough for Max to come in.**

**"I hope you weren't seen, Max. What's that?" Michael pointed to the object in Max's arms. It was wrapped in an Indian blanket. Liz had had it over her shoulders while she sat by the river watching the stars. But it only took one good look for Michael to realize that what Max had in his arms was far more than just an "object." Michael's jaw dropped, and his eyes opened wide.**

**"Omigod, Max! You found her… She's alive," Michael stammered, in an excited whisper. "Where… How did you… Where did you… Don't move! Maria's got to…" Michael didn't finish his sentence, as he rushed toward Maria and Isabel's room and knocked quietly but excitedly on their bedroom door.**

**The door opened a crack, and Isabel looked out.**

**"Michael? We're trying to sleep in here. You may have just woke Maria back up, and it took me hours to get her to sleep. What's so important that it couldn't wait for tomorrow?"**

**Michael turned around and saw Max walking up behind him with Liz in his arms.**

**"Is this important enough," Michael asked, moving a portion of the blanket that had blocked Liz's face. Isabel let out a loud gasp, and Maria, behind her, rolled over in her bed.**

**"Is something wrong, Iz? Was that you?"**

**Isabel tried to say something, but at first, no words would come out.**

**"Isabel?" Maria asked again, the concern in her voice rising.**

**"No… Uh… No," Isabel stammered, finally finding her voice again. "Nothing's wrong, Maria."**

**"Okay."**

**"Uh… Maria?"**

**"Yeah?" **

**"I think… I think you should really come here a minute… You need to see something… NOW…"**

**"Are you sure you're alright," Maria asked, coming awake completely now and rolling off the bed. Something in the urgency in Isabel's voice alarmed her. It wasn't like Isabel. Even in the tunnels, when Isabel had been dying, she had never requested Maria's presence quite so urgently. Maria walked quickly to the door. Isabel opened it, and Max stepped forward with Liz in his arms.**

**"I would run and hug you," Liz said, tears rolling down her cheeks even as a huge smile covered her face, "but I'm afraid I can't walk anymore, Maria."**

**Maria gasped, her eyes shot open wider than saucers, and her mouth dropped. In fact, it's unlikely that her jaw could have fallen any further if she had had Rahn's amazing stretching talents. Before anyone could react, Maria had her arms around both Liz and Max together, and the tears were rolling down her cheeks again… for only the hundredth time tonight. **

**"Omigod, Liz! You're alive! You're really, really, really, really ALIVE! And here! How did you get here? Let me look at you!" Maria looked at Liz and moved a tress of hair off of her face, then a huge smile came over her own face, and she hugged Liz and Max again, almost crushing Max's ribs in her joy. **

**"Omigod, Liz! I don't believe this! Where did you come from? …Max?"**

**"I found her down by the river. I made a wish and… there she was."**

**Maria looked at Max for a moment silently but then turned her attention back to Liz.**

**"Liz… you've got to stay here with us. You've got to! I want to have you here where we can be together now… at least for a while! We've got to talk! The rest of us can't go back home until it's safe. The army thought we were all aliens or something, and they locked us in these dreadful rooms way down inside some huge tunnels where they were going to keep us until…" Maria waved her hands around in the air… "I don't know what… maybe forever, I think. Rahn helped us escape from them by going deeper into the tunnels then into a cave. Then we found Angie Lee in the cave, and she led us here…"**

**Liz smiled. "I think we really do need to talk, Maria. Sounds like you've got a lot to tell me."**

**"Me!? Oh… No! No! Not me… What about you, Liz? I want to hear about you since we were together. Since… Since…"**

**"Graduation, yeah," Liz said, holding onto Max, who was still holding her in his arms. "That would be when we saw each other last. I woke up a couple of months later… completely paralyzed. But I can move again now! All but my legs…"**

**Maria's eyes misted up, and she hugged Liz again. **

**"I'm so sorry, Liz. Hey, maybe Max can make you walk again! He healed Iz and me, and we were dead!"**

**"Yeah… he's gonna see if he can," Liz said. "It's alright, Maria… Really! Hey! Tell me what happened to you?"**

**"I don't remember everything before Max healed us… just some of it. Max said I was dead… me and Isabel… and Michael almost. The rest is just… a long story. I'll tell you everything I can remember later… after I've heard all about you!"**

**"Good! I want to hear it all," Liz said.**

**Max set Liz down on Maria's bed and gave her a kiss, which Liz returned with a passion that was still unfulfilled after having been apart for so long… and given the heartaches that both had endured while on the run. After a couple of minutes, they separated, somewhat reluctantly, and Max stood back up and breathed a deep, refreshing breath, one of the first he had taken in a long time.**

**"I'll have to tell Gray Hawk," Max said… "I'll see if I can get him to let you stay here, Liz."**

**"Uh, you may not have to," Michael said, pointing behind Max. Max turned around. The old Mesaliko Apache was standing right behind him, with a very stern look on his face. Max momentarily flushed and found that he had to moisten his lips and swallow before he could speak again, but then he steeled his resolve. He was determined that he was not going to be separated from Liz again… not now. Not after all that they had been through to find each other. It was Gray Hawk, however, who spoke first. He held up one hand, as though requesting their undivided attention… and he got it.**

**Gray Hawk looked at each person in the room, then he spoke slowly… deliberately. "I heard. It would seem that A'in ji Lii was correct. You do need my help. So I will allow it. There will be no more talk about the matter. But you…" He looked sternly into Liz's eyes. "You must sleep in this room… and you…" He looked at Max. "You must sleep with the bird-man."**

**Max just nodded and swallowed. "Thank you. That… that would be great…"**

**"UM! …Good! It is settled then. I will speak with my brother, River Dog, in the morning. He will understand. What is justice for one is justice for all. It is the way of our people."**

**"Thank you," Max managed to say again.**

**"Gray Hawk…" Liz whispered hesitantly.**

**The old Indian turned around and looked at Liz again but did not speak. Liz understood that he was waiting for her to say what was on her mind.**

**"Thank you… for me, too."**

**"Um."**

**Liz's uneasy gaze remained on Gray Hawk, and she bit her lip.**

**"Is there something else," Gray Hawk asked, seeing in Liz's face that there was.**

**Liz breathed deeply. "Well… somebody will have to tell Alex that I'm here… tonight. He's at River Dog's house, and he'll be really worried if I don't return tonight."**

**Gray Hawk looked at Liz, as he thought about what she had said, but this time, it was Max who spoke first.**

**"Liz had an idea that was pretty good earlier."**

**Gray Hawk looked at Max.**

**"Isabel could deliver the message to Alex that Liz is okay… then Isabel could stay there tonight… It would balance things out again… where everybody would sleep and all… There would still be two sleeping at River Dog's house… and Liz could sleep in Isabel's bed here."**

**Gray Hawk nodded silently. "I know my brother. He would make the same arrangements that I would make. It is acceptable. But it will be her decision."**

**Isabel looked at Max then quickly back to Gray Hawk, as the full force of what this all meant suddenly hit her.**

**"Alex is alive… and he's only three houses away! I want to see him! When can I go?"**

**Gray Hawk reached for a blanket from the chest at the foot of the bed.**

**"Take mine," Liz said. "It belongs to River Dog anyway… and Alex will be expecting to see it."**

**Max turned to Rahn, who had been listening silently.**

**"Rahn, Liz left her wheelchair down by the river. Could you bring it back here for her?"**

**"Yes, I can do that," Rahn answered, happy to finally have something to contribute to this conversation.**

**"Um! There are several wheelchairs on the reservation," Gray Hawk said, thinking. "No one would think much about it if they saw you in the chair… if you had the blanket over you."**

**Several minutes later, the front door of Gray Hawk's house opened just a bit, and a small brown bat flew out headed towards the river. Fifteen minutes later, an old Indian in a wheelchair rolled up to Gray Hawk's house, and Gray Hawk let him in. Once inside, the old Indian began to change into a young man again… though perhaps it would be more accurate to say that he assumed the "appearance" of a young man again, because Rahn was actually older than either Gray Hawk or River Dog even though he appeared to be in his twenties and had the physique of a twenty-year-old. Physically, he was a twenty year old, but Rahn had been born some 127 earth years before and was not long out of adolescence for his kind.**

**Isabel sat down in the chair, and Max put Liz's blanket over her shoulders and head, covering her hair and clothes. Then he nodded.**

**"You're all set. Whenever you're ready…"**

**"Third house?" Isabel asked. "The one with the spear in the ground beside the front door?"**

**"That is my brother's house, yes," Gray Hawk confirmed.**

**"Push me out, Max."**

**Gray Hawk opened the door, and Max pushed Isabel to the door. She took the wheels in her hands and rolled the chair the rest of the way to the street, then taking one quick look back, Isabel headed quickly to the third house, where Alex was waiting for Liz to return.**

**                                 *************

**The door opened slightly, and Alex peeked out at the girl in the chair. Her head and shoulders were draped in River Dog's Indian blanket.**

**"Come in… quick. God, Liz! I was getting worried! Do you know how long you've been gone? I was about to go look for you myself!" Alex pulled the chair into the house then turned around to make sure they were still alone.**

**"I'm not mad at you, Liz. I'm just concerned about you. You said you'd only be gone for a little while."**

**Alex turned back around to face Liz, and Isabel removed the blanket that had been covering her head and shoulders. It was probably a good thing that Alex was young. The surprise could have been too much for a weaker heart.**

**Alex stumbled backwards a step then looked at Isabel as though he were seeing a ghost. His voice somehow got lost in his throat.**

**"Well? Aren't you glad to see me, Alex?"**

**"Isabel?" Alex managed to whisper, finally finding his voice. "Omigod! Yeah! Yeah… sure, I'm… I'm ecstatic! Of course, I'm glad! Omigod, Isabel! What are you doing here? Where's Liz?"**

**"Liz? You mean the girl you've been living here with?"**

**"Yeah, that would be the one, Iz. Where is she? You didn't leave her down by the river did you?"**

**"Alex! No, of course not! Liz is fine. She's at Gray Hawk's house."**

**"Who's Gray Hawk?"**

**"River Dog's brother."  
  
"River Dog's got a brother?"**

**"Several of them… sisters, too."**

**"I didn't know." Alex looked at Isabel again, and a huge smile came over his face.**

**"You came here… to be with me?"**

**"Well, I don't see any other handsome, zany guys around here anywhere, Alex… so… yeah! I guess I did." Isabel smiled. "Are you happy that I came?"**

**"Happy? I'm… I'm overjoyed!" **

**"Well, are you going to do something about it or are you just going to stand there and be overjoyed?"**

**Alex started to lift Isabel up out of the wheelchair, but then he hesitated.**

**"You're… uh… I mean… You're okay then? I won't hurt you?"**

**Isabel smiled and stood up. "The chair is Liz's, Alex. I'm fine. She just let me take it to come over here. Max is at Gray Hawk's house. Max is taking care of her now."**

**Finally realizing that Liz really was okay and that Isabel really was standing in front of him… in the flesh… alive… and not just another cruel dream… Alex grabbed Isabel, lifted her off her feet, and swung her around and around in circles. Then he kissed her. Then they both stopped spinning as they concentrated on each other and on all the time they had to make up for. If their bodies were no longer spinning, though, the same cannot truly be said of their heads or their hearts, which were certifiably higher, at this moment, than the stars on this starry, starry night. **

**                                    ************

**Jeff Parker was sitting in his apartment upstairs over the CrashDown, taking a much-needed break from the grill -at Nancy's insistence- when something attracted his attention at the window. It was the roadrunner. It could have been another roadrunner, of course, but Jeff knew that it was not. Roadrunners were common enough, but seeing one sitting in a window, especially upstairs, was not common. Seeing one racing along the street in the desert was common. Roadrunners can and do fly, but they prefer to run, and their flight is somewhat limited by the shortness of their wings. Rahn had made his wings slightly longer than the average roadrunner's in order to sustain his flight longer and more easily. This roadrunner was not common. It had a name, and Jeff knew it…**

**"Rahn!"**

**The bird hopped out of the window into Jeff's apartment over the CrashDown and quickly morphed into its human appearance.**

**"You looking for more information for Max," Jeff asked.**

**"No. This time I'm bringing information," Rahn said.**

**Jeff put his newspaper down. He didn't know why, but something told him that this was important. He guessed it was because Rahn had risked this trip to bring this information.**

**"I'm listening, Rahn. What do you have to tell me?"**

**"Your daughter is not dead," Rahn said straight out. "Liz is alive."**

**For a moment, Jeff wasn't sure that he had heard right, but deep inside he knew that he had, and his pulse began to race even as the blood drained from his face, leaving him paler than Rahn on Rahn's palest day.**

**"Liz… is alive? Are you… Are you sure, Rahn? Sheriff Valenti said…"**

**"I saw her and spoke with her myself. She is well… She is with Max. He's taking care of her until they can return home and be safe again. The sheriff hid her and her friend, Alex. Unfortunately, it was necessary for everyone to believe that they were dead, even you, in order to make those who are trying to harm them believe that they were dead, too. That was the only way to give the sheriff time to plan what must be done to save them. Liz said to tell you that the sheriff is doing everything to try to help her, and that he saved her life. She said to tell you that you should not be angry with him."**

**"No… I'm not. Well… I am… kind of… I don't know. Why couldn't he tell me? Where are they, Rahn? I have to know where Liz is!"**

**"Would you want to put her in the same danger that she was in before all over again? Because if you know where she is, she will be in danger… and so will you… and your wife. There are people who will use every means to force you to talk. I know, Jeff Parker. I have seen their methods personally. I don't think a human could survive it for long. Some of my own people did not. I was fortunate to be young and healthy."**

**Jeff put his hand over his eyes, and his eyes misted up, but then he realized that the fact that he could not see Liz right now was only the bad news… and the least news. The real news was the good news… Liz was alive! A smile began to grow across Jeff's face, and the blood returned.**

**"Liz is alive? Liz is alive! Oh, geez! Liz is alive! NANCY!"**

**Nancy came running into the living room and found Jeff hugging Rahn. For a moment, she stood watching, not sure what was going on. Then Jeff turned to her with tears in his eyes.**

**"Liz is alive, Nancy… Our Lizzie's alive!"**

**Nancy gasped, and her hand went automatically to her mouth. Rahn guessed that this habit was one of practicality, as it kept anything from flying into one's mouth when it was wide open, as humans' mouths so often tended to be.**

**"Liz is still alive?" Nancy repeated. "Where is she? I want to see her!"**

**"We can't see her right now," Jeff said. "She's hiding, with the sheriff's help, and everybody's supposed to think she's dead… but just until Jim can fix things… right Rahn?"**

**"That is what he hopes. That is what we all hope," Rahn said. "Liz said that the sheriff is working very hard on it. I must go now and tell him that Max and the others are alive."**

**"Amy will want to know about Maria," Nancy said. "She really should know."**

**Rahn nodded. "Zan… I mean, Max… and Liz agree with you. They believe that you and Jeff will keep their secret, and Amy already has kept Liz and Alex's secret, so they believe it will be best to tell her and Sheriff Jim about Maria and the others, too. It might make it easier for him to coordinate a plan to help them all."**

**"That's good thinking, Rahn," Jeff said. "Jim will do everything he can to help all of them… but he can't if he doesn't even know they're all alive or where the rest of them are. I would tell him."**

**Rahn smiled. "At least this time I am delivering good news. I did not enjoy delivering bad news before, Jeff Parker."**

**"Most people don't, Rahn," Jeff said. "Most good people don't."**

**Nancy hugged Rahn, and Jeff put his hand on his shoulder. "Thank you, Rahn! Thank you so, so much! You don't know it, but you gave me my life back today." Jeff wiped the corner of his eye and handed Nancy a napkin to wipe her eyes with.**

**"Go tell Jim and Amy the good news, Rahn. They deserve some."**

**Moments later, a brownish bird with a long tail flew out of the upstairs window of Jeff's apartment in the direction of the Sheriff's office. Sitting in a car not far away, just out of sight, another figure watched the bird fly away.**

**"Now what is Jeff Parker up to?" **

**Judge Lewis scratched his head. "Has he gone into breeding roadrunners? Maybe he's serving them on the menu… as alien chicken or something." A brief smile flickered over the judge's face at this thought, but it was quickly gone again. "Or maybe… he's using them like carrier pigeons… to fly messages to those kids. I wonder if roadrunners could be trained to… Naw! …or can they? I wonder." **

**Judge Lewis cranked his car and drove off in the direction the bird had flown. He didn't see the bird again, but he did pass Sheriff Valenti's office, and he decided that that was reason enough to park for a while and see what the sheriff might be up to today. Finding a nice shady spot in the shadows of a nearby building, Judge Lewis parked his car and waited. He really didn't know if he would see anything unusual or not. Most days he saw nothing worthy of his interest. But it was the one day that he might see something that kept Judge Lewis coming back. Perseverance. It was the one thing the judge had in spades. He could be like a pit bull hanging on to the seat of someone's pants… and even more annoying… though he preferred to think of himself as a mighty super hero… or super villain, he really didn't care much which… who never gave up.**

**Twenty-five minutes passed uneventfully, and Judge Lewis stretched and looked at his watch. Just then the upstairs window of the Sheriff's office opened and something flew out.**

**"Another roadrunner? What is Jim up to? Something that involves Jeff Parker obviously."**

**Judge Lewis cranked his car quickly and spun it around, determined to follow this bird and see where it was going. He knew that he would probably lose it, but he hoped to follow it long enough to see where it might be going. The bird headed in the direction of the desert, and Judge Lewis followed as fast as he could. The roadrunner had a fair lead, but he could still just see it far up ahead… and he saw something else, too… something circling high in the sky, well above the furiously flapping little roadrunner… a much larger redtail hawk.**

**"Well, Valenti, if you're sending messages by roadrunner courier, this is one that's not going to get there," Judge Lewis gloated. **

**Like one predator judging another, Judge Lewis was not off the mark about the hawk's intent. Almost as soon as he thought it, the hawk went into a dive. Judge Lewis wasn't sure if he should be happy that the message would not arrive or disappointed that he would not get to see where the bird was going now. He wasn't sure if the smaller bird ever saw it coming or not. The hawk hit the roadrunner with all its fury, its claws extended, knocking the smaller bird into an uncontrolled death spiral toward the ground; then, as the roadrunner dropped, the hawk swooped in for the kill. Judge Lewis couldn't see either bird now, because his line of vision was blocked by nearby trees, but that was about to end. He was coming up on open desert. Maybe the hawk would leave a leg or something for him… If he was lucky, he might find the message Jim had been sending. Then he would have him!**

**A couple of minutes later, the judge arrived at the area where he had seen the hawk kill Jim's roadrunner, but he didn't immediately see either bird, so he drove around the area several times, tightening his loops each time. If anything was there… if the hawk left him anything… **

**Then he saw it. Feathers… lots of them… all over the ground. **

**"Jim, Jim, Jim…" Judge Lewis sneered, smiling in spite of his probable loss of any message. "Big ole' bad hawk made a mess of your little roadrunner. I'm afraid there's not much left!"**

**Judge Lewis put his car in park and got out. Maybe the message might still be here among the feathers and carnage. He leaned over and picked up some of the feathers.**

**"These are mighty large feathers for a roadrunner." Judge Lewis picked up some more feathers… then some more. All of them appeared to have come from the hawk. Judge Lewis scratched his head and looked further, still intent on finding the message he was sure Jim had sent. Then he saw a different kind of feather and picked it up.**

**"Aha! So you did not escape after all, did you, little roadrunner?"**

**As he held the feather in his hand, it suddenly seemed to melt and fuse together. Surprised, Judge Lewis dropped it. Then he squatted down and looked at the small, still-writhing oddity on the ground. It no longer looked like a feather at all. It looked more like… skin. Hesitantly, Judge Lewis picked it up again, but then he dropped it again as something red oozed out onto his hand.**

**"Blood! What the hell is going on here!?"**

**Judge Lewis took a small rag out of his car and picked the piece of skin up with it then wrapped it several times in the rag.**

**"I don't know what happened to the message or the hawk… but I'll bet this will turn some heads when those asshole agents see it! They'll be groveling at my feet and apologizing to me now for not believing me before."**

**Judge Lewis got back into his car, put the rag on the seat beside him, and turned the key. Nothing happened. He turned it again, and again, nothing. Huffing, he got out of his car. Then he reached back in and popped the hood. Working up a bad mood now, he walked to the front and lifted the hood. His eyes grew suddenly wide, and he tried to shut the hood back quickly, but it was already too late.**

**The huge snake uncoiled like a sling shot, wrapping itself around the judge numerous times before he could react. Soon, Judge Lewis found his ribs aching and his diaphragm unable to move enough air into his lungs to keep him conscious. He cursed his luck and the snake, even as he gasped his last conscious breath and reluctantly watched the daylight fade into darkness… and inescapable unconsciousness.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Rahn returns to the reservation. Amy and Jim celebrate the news Rahn brought them and plan a way for themselves and the Parkers to see their children on the reservation. A disheveled and half-hallucinating Judge Lewis walks out of the desert with a story that no one will believe… until he shows them something that can't be explained.**


	24. Dreams23

Before this next chapter starts, I want to say thanks to everyone who has left feedbacks on this story so far! You are all very much appreciated, and I love you all! Bsktballchik, Mystic8668, Fichic, Tchele, Jazzypunker, Glory 12783, Jacey925 (That kind of fb keeps my muse very happy! Love ya!), Lulu34 (Ooh! Ditto what I just said to Jacey925!), Sam-me, Lady Krista (Fear not! All my stories will get completed unless something terrible happens to me!), Azi, Martyjeannine, DramastarOF06, Charmed-angel4, Vashkoda, Malexandria, and AlienAngel… Thanks! I love you all! A few special comments: 

**Vashkoda – Unexpected twists and turns are my specialty! I'm a reckless writer! LOL ! I agree with you totally about the reviews. There are a number of possibilities for this, but fb is starting to pick up somewhat on this story at least, and then people go read the others. The Liz-alien thing was revealed at the very end of the first story, Altered Time – Destiny In The Stars. It was a subtle implication at the very end.**

Malexandria – Ditto on the reviews! Your observation about Kyle and the Evanses being absent was very useful! Actually, Kyle was in chapters 4 & 5. He was the first of the gang to visit Liz after she came out of her coma, and she confided in him about her odd dreams. And he was the one who "accidentally on purpose" pulled the cinch that dropped the coffin so they could see what was (or wasn't) in it when Judge Lewis showed up with a cease and desist order. Kyle will be back again, I'm sure, before this is over. As for the Evanses, you are so right! I realized that they have been direly neglected in the chapters so far… so for this reason, you can take responsibility for them having an active part in the upcoming chapter! The reason they hadn't appeared before is that Max and Isabel were supposedly killed at graduation. All the action early on centered around Liz, who was alive, and around the gang trying to find their way off the base and reunite. Liz and Alex's parents had active parts, because their children were with them at the beginning of the story, but the Evanses children were presumed dead, and they didn't have an active part. That is now changed. Thanks for the observation! And thanks especially for the very nice comments! 

**AlienAngel – The gang from The Four Faces Of Rath is on the way. I can't say much more, because I don't want to spoil anything.**

**And without further ado, here's the next part! **

The Night The Dreams Died 

**A Feather Of Doubt**

**Chapter 23**

**XXIII**

**U****pstairs over the sheriff's office, safely locked away from prying eyes, Jim and Amy hugged each other. Then Amy bounced, pirouetted, and danced around the gym, wanting to scream for joy but trying not to make so much noise that anyone else might hear and wonder what was going on up there. Unable to scream, Amy let out her feelings by leaping and dancing all over the room. Then she literally leapt into Jim's arms.**

**With a huge grin on his own face, Jim stared at the coffee cup Amy had been drinking out of only a few minutes earlier.**

**"I'm really gonna have to add some water to that coffee pot downstairs one of these days. I knew it was getting to be pretty strong stuff, but this is bordering on illegal! I wouldn't want Hansen doing flips and pirouettes around the office… and if he jumps into my arms, that's it! He's goin' in the tank till the caffeine wears off!"**

**Amy ran her hand over the side of Jim's face and up through his hair then smiled at him.**

**"Go ahead and arrest me, Sheriff! I surrender!"**

**Jim just smiled.**

**"Jim… can we see her," Amy asked, suddenly turning more serious again, though still smiling from ear to ear. "We could go out to the reservation… You could make up some excuse or something for going out there, couldn't you?"**

**"What about Jeff and Nancy… and Diane and Phillip… or the Whitmans? They'll want to see their children, too."**

**"Well… yeah… I know. Maybe we could take them with us!"**

**Jim gave Amy a skeptical look, but then he seemed to consider it.**

**"I could think on it, Amy… maybe… I don't know. I'll see if I can come up with something believable. But don't put too much hope into it. Their safety is the most important thing right now. It comes first."**

**"Of course it does," Amy agreed. "I wouldn't do anything to hurt Maria. She's my daughter. I just need to see her… you know… for myself… to know that she's really okay. You understand? I… I thought she was dead for so long, Jim…" **

**In spite of the smile on her face, Amy's eyes began to mist up.**

**Jim nodded and swallowed. He knew he was up against a force that no law officer had ever been trained to deal with. And besides… he kind of relished the idea of seeing everyone alive, well, and together again himself. Jim sighed a half-resigned sigh and looked at Amy… **

**"I understand how everyone feels. I just don't know if I can do anything about it." **

**He looked at Amy's pleading face. **

**"But I'll try. I promise. I'll see what I can do."**

**Amy smiled again. "I know you'll come up with something, Jim. You're the smartest man I know."**

**"Ah! Watch it!" Jim said, turning back around. "That's bribery! Keep that up and I may HAVE to arrest you."**

**"Well, it wouldn't be the first time," Amy said.**

**"No… No, it wouldn't," Jim agreed. **

**"Anyway… I'm already serving a life sentence," Amy added. "What else can you do to me?"**

**"A life sentence? Is that what it is?"**

**Amy grinned. "Oh, I hope so!"**

**Jim nodded. "Well… with good behavior… and continued bribes like that to the sheriff… yeah… you can count on it being life. Besides, I can't let you go… I threw the key away."**

**"How convenient. Do you think you'll ever regret it, Jim?"**

**Jim shook his head. "Not for a moment."**

**Amy smiled. "Me either."**

**                                             ************

**~ three days later, on the Mesaliko Indian Reservation ~**

**Angie Lee sat in the living room of Gray Hawk's house talking with Maria and Liz. Though she was officially on summer break now, she had spent the last four days in Las Cruces taking care of some unfinished college work and other business. Max and Michael sat at the table nearby discussing plans with Alex and Isabel, who somehow had managed to convince River Dog to sneak them over to Gray Hawk's house for the day to be with the others… as they had every day for the past three days. It was Angie Lee who first noticed the faint sound, like something flopping around outside the door. She looked at Maria for a moment then at Max, then she ran to the door and opened it. A roadrunner limped into the living room and flopped over with its wings outstretched on the floor… heaving from exhaustion. Its head sank slowly to the floor, then it didn't move. Its eyes were closed. **

**"Max!" Angie Lee cried, but Max was already there.**

**"Rahn? My God! We were afraid something bad like this had happened when you didn't return! Can you change back?"**

**The bird just lay there, its wings outstretched, its eyes closed, and its head on the floor. Max reached down and carefully picked the little roadrunner up. He looked it over, then his hands began to glow with a soft green glow. After a short time, the bird pulled its wings in next to its sides… then, moments later, it tried to stand up. Max set it back down on the floor gently.**

**The roadrunner did look a hundred percent better, all things considered. It was still missing a few feathers, including one of its long tail feathers. But it was breathing more normally, and its eyes were open. It was also able to stand on its own feet now and hold its head up.**

**"Can you change back," Max asked again.**

**Little by little, the bird began to stretch and expand, its feathers began to disappear, and Rahn began to assume his "human" form. As he did, the extent of his injuries became more obvious. Everywhere that a feather had been missing, there was a deep gouge or abrasion on Rahn's body… including one that must have been very painful across his hips and up to the tailbone, where the tail feather had been. A sizeable patch of skin was missing there, and there was a deep gouge, probably from one of the hawk's talons. There was another deep gouge on his back and upper left side just below the shoulders. **

**As Rahn morphed back into his human form, he automatically replaced a thinner outer skin that mimicked human clothing, but in his present injured condition, he was unable to create new skin or "clothing" over the injured areas. Because of this, he looked like he had been in a fight with a tiger and was wearing clothes that were all ripped up. Max placed his hand over one of the wounds, and his hand glowed for about twenty seconds. As it did, the wound began to close… then skin covered it… then the "rip" in Rahn's biological "clothes" closed up. Max repeated this until he had healed all but the one remaining wound, the large one across Rahn's derriere. Max looked at Michael and at the girls.**

**"What?" Michael asked, grinning in spite of his best efforts to feign nonchalance. "You want me not to look? It's Rahn's butt! He's the one exposed, not you."**

**"Come on," Angie Lee said to Michael. "Let's go in the other room."**

**"I don't see what he's being so prudish about," Michael said. "He's not the one lying there exposed. I mean, if Rahn's okay with it…"**

**Angie Lee pushed Michael into the other room, and Maria and the others all followed. **

**Max placed both his hands on top of the large wounds on Rahn's hips, and there was a glow from his hands for almost a minute. He had to repeat the process several times on different parts of Rahn's wounded rear. Then he repeated the procedure on his tailbone. Finally, he removed his hands. The skin had grown back, and the biological "clothes" were starting to fill in.**

**"You're all fixed, Rahn."**

**"Thank you," Rahn said, but he looked somewhat puzzled. "Was that hard for you? You seemed… concerned."**

**Max shook his head. "No. No, it wasn't hard. You're wounds were relatively superficial… except for a couple that were deep… and the one on your… uh, your butt. There are just… well… some things that… well… I wouldn't do for just anybody, Rahn."**

**"I don't understand."**

**Max looked unsettled, as he tried to think of some way to explain.**

**"It's just that Michael knows about this now."**

**Max could tell that this information hadn't enlightened Rahn at all. If anything, Rahn simply looked more puzzled than ever.**

**"Never mind," Max said. "Michael and I are kind of… competitive. He won't let this opportunity go by. You can count on it."**

**"Is that bad?"**

**Max sighed. Clearly, he was going to have to explain a bit more appropriately for Rahn to understand.**

**"Michael and I… we sometimes kid each other about stuff… you know, just because we're friends and we're close and all… Touching someone in certain places sends kind of a sexual message…"**

**"Oh," Rahn said, seeming to understand. "So when you healed me… but don't your doctors touch people if they need to to heal them?"**

**"Yes, of course they do," Max admitted. "There's nothing wrong with it, it's just, well… it's… Never mind, Rahn. It's just childish."**

**Max heard muted laughter coming from the other room.**

**"You hear that, Michael? Childish!" Max said, raising his voice in the direction of the room the others had gone into. "You can come out now. It's all over."**

**The door opened and Michael and the others came back into the living room. Michael was grinning, but he didn't say anything.**

**"Rahn's as good as new," Max said, waving his hand in Rahn's direction.**

**"I'm very pleased to see that you're back to normal," Michael said politely to Rahn.**

**"Thank you. I am a bit pleased myself," Rahn admitted.**

**Michael grinned.**

**"Go ahead, Michael," Max said. "You know you want to say it! Say what you want to say! Get it over with."**

**"What?" Michael asked, acting offended. "Make fun of you for healing someone? That would be childish, Max. What do you take me for?"**

**Max looked at Maria. She shrugged.**

**"Okay," Max said quietly, still not sure if he really believed it. "Maybe I was wrong."**

**"I'm hurt, Maxwell! I think you owe me an apology."**

**Max looked at Michael's pleading face for a moment then sighed.**

**"Okay. I'm sorry."**

**"That you would even think I would be so crass," Michael continued.**

**"Michael! Don't push it! I said I'm sorry."**

**"Well, I'm very grateful to you," Rahn said, interrupting Max and Michael's exchange. "Zan… I mean, Max… you are a wonderful healer."**

**"Thank you," Max said, some of the smile returning to his face.**

**"I was afraid I would not be able to sit down again after that hawk slashed my tail," Rahn said.**

**"Did Max make it feel all better," Michael asked, with innocence painted all over his face.**

**"Oh yes! Very much better!"**

**"Really? I expect he ran his hands all over the, uh, injured area afterward to check for healing anomalies… you know, unevenness, unusual coloration, odd misalignments… silver handprints…"**

**"No… I don't think so… Should he have?" **

**Michael smiled. "Naw… It's nothing to worry about."**

**"It's nothing to worry about?" Rahn asked, sounding concerned.**

**"Well, it's just that the last guy Max touched there, his butt turned silver and was all uneven afterwards, and then it started to grow and grow. Now the poor guy has to be rolled everywhere he goes."**

**Angie Lee put one hand over her mouth and eyes but then broke down and giggled in spite of herself. Maria gave Michael a "Shame on you" look.**

**Max nodded. "I knew it! I knew you had to do it! I know you too well, Michael."**

**"Michael is playing a joke," Rahn said, seeming to understand what was going on.**

**"Yeah, I'm just pulling your leg, Rahn," Michael said. "But Max has been known to leave silver handprints. Did you check that out, Max?"**

**"No, and I'm not going to," Max said. "It'll wear off soon enough… if there is one."**

**Michael snickered. Alex shook his head but smiled, too.**

**"Well, Rahn," Liz said, "From where I'm sitting, you don't have any silver handprints on you anywhere, so don't worry about it."**

**"I'm not worried," Rahn said.**

**"Maybe his body doesn't get silver handprints from being healed by an alien," Alex mused.**

**"Or maybe they're under his clothes or whatever that is that he wears when he turns back into one of us again," Michael suggested.**

**"Well, either way, it is no problem for me," Rahn said. "I am very happy to be all well again with no injuries. That is all that I care about. Max pleased me very much."**

**Michael snorted, and Max ran his hand over his face. **

**"We understand, Rahn," Liz said. **

**"Don't pay any attention to Michael," Max added. "His hormones got all out of whack being away from Maria for so long."**

**"Maybe it was something they did to him in the army lab," Rahn said seriously.**

**Max shook his head. "No, I don't think so."**

**Max started to turn away but then seemed to stop and think for a moment…**

**"Then again, though… you could be right, Rahn. I probably ought to check that out."**

**Max turned around and took a step toward Michael.**

**"Uh, Max… what are you planning to do here," Michael asked warily, backing up then dodging to the other side of the room.**

**"Well, if you're still you, Michael, and they didn't change you, your butt will hold a silver handprint nicely."**

**"No! Uh, uh! No way! You stay away from me, Max! I like my butt untattooed, thank you very much!"**

**Max leapt, and Michael dodged back to the other side of the room again, keeping Alex and the others between them. Max feigned a dash to the left but then cut to the right instead, closing in on Michael. Seeing his escape path blocked, Michael sat his butt down the only place he saw available… on Maria's lap. By now the entire room was in tears from laughter.**

**Maria smiled and put her arms around him. "I'll protect your butt, Michael."**

**Alex couldn't help letting out a little, "Awwwwww," which didn't go unnoticed by Michael.**

**"Watch it, Alex! You can't make silver handprints on my butt! You're vulnerable!"**

**"Naw," Alex said, shaking his head. "I've got Isabel to protect me."**

**Michael knew that Alex was poking fun at his seeking refuge in Maria's lap, but he also knew that there was more than a little bit of truth to what Alex had said. Getting Alex back would be a challenge with Isabel around. Michael wasn't sure he wanted to risk it.**

**At that moment, the front door opened, and Gray Hawk came in. Gray Hawk looked around the room as though taking inventory of who was there, then he motioned to someone behind him. As he moved out of the way, Jim Valenti walked in with Amy, and right behind them were Jeff and Nancy Parker, the Whitmans, and Diane and Phillip Evans. Compared to the scene that erupted next, everything that had gone before seemed as solemn as a church service. Amy dashed straight to Maria, who jumped up, forgetting that Michael was on her lap, and ran to her mother. Michael grinned sheepishly and stood back up, brushing himself off. **

**Jeff looked at Liz for a moment and smiled, as tears came into his eyes, and Nancy dropped down onto her knees and hugged Liz in her chair.**

**Phillip and Diane Evans looked at Max and Isabel for several moments, unable to speak. Then Diane pulled Isabel into her arms and reached over to touch Max, as Phillip reached his own hand out to Max.**

**The Whitmans had Alex in an embrace that would have held a struggling bull down, but Alex wasn't complaining. In fact, he was smiling.**

**Gray Hawk stood by his front door, which he had closed again so no one would see. This was going to take a lot of peyote dust blown into the air later… but he felt that somehow it was worth it.**

**Everybody was talking at once, asking questions, convincing themselves that this was really happening.**

**After hugging Liz for several minutes, Jeff walked over to Max and looked at him. Then he smiled. "Max, it's good to see you again."**

**"You, too, Mr. Parker." **

**"I, uh, I take it you couldn't heal Liz? The sheriff thought you might try to… you know…"**

**Max's smile disappeared, and sadness seemed to come over him momentarily.**

**"I tried, Mr. Parker. But what's wrong with Liz is something… that I can't fix… something beyond my powers. I'll keep trying, though. I won't give up on Liz."**

**Jeff nodded. "I know…"**

**"Mr. Parker?"**

**"Yes?"**

**"If Liz doesn't… walk again… I just want you to know… It won't make any difference. I love her. That's not going to change."**

**Jeff smiled. "I know that, too, Max. I don't know whether that comforts me more or scares me more. I guess I'll get used to it, though… eventually. It's kind of hard, you know, knowing that there's another man in my little girl's life now. If you're going to be my son-in-law, Max, you're going to have to settle down and take care of Liz."**

**Max blushed slightly. "We haven't actually got that far yet, Mr. Parker. I don't even know if Liz will want me… I mean, forever, you know."**

**"Don't you?" Jeff asked with a smile. "Then you're the only person who still doesn't know it, Max." **

**Jeff turned and went back to Liz and Nancy, leaving Max to think about what he had said.**

**It was hard to tell who was asking a question and who was answering one, Amy or Maria. Both were alternately hugging, crying, kissing, and talking at the same time. But, somehow, they seemed to understand each other perfectly. And along with the never-ending words, enough tears were falling to fill a rain barrel.**

**Phillip and Diane Evans were hanging on to Isabel and Max's every word now. They had dragged Michael over to where they were sitting and were acting as though he were their other long lost son. Michael, who was at first somewhat embarrassed by all the unexpected attention, had to admit to himself that it gave him a warm, good feeling inside; and before he realized what was happening, he found himself falling into the part of the second son as though he had grown up in their home. **

**Jeff and Nancy were both huddled around Liz, as Liz told them what had happened to her and Alex in the asylum and about finding Max by the river and all about their time in River Dog and Gray Hawk's homes. Nancy was alternately gasping, hugging Liz, crying, and asking more questions, as Jeff stood by her side, a smile on his face that Liz guessed would take a month of Sundays to wipe away.**

**It was Mrs. Whitman who first seemed to notice that there were other people in the house. She already knew who Gray Hawk was, because Jim had introduced them all briefly before they had come to the reservation, but she knew that she had never met the blonde headed girl with the green eyes or the handsome young, light-skinned man with blondish hair, who stood nearby watching everything going on with smiles on their faces.**

**"Alex?" Mrs. Whitman nodded toward the young couple. **

**"Oh! Yeah! Mom… Dad, this is Angie Lee… and Rahn."**

**Everyone else turned to look at Angie Lee and Rahn, too, as Alex introduced them.**

**"Angie Lee lives with Gray Hawk. She's his adopted daughter. And Rahn is… is… well… a friend of Max and Michael."**

**"We've met," Jeff said, holding his hand out to Rahn. "It's good to see you again, Rahn."**

**Then Jeff turned to the girl. "I don't think we've met, though, Angie Lee… I don't think I've ever seen you in town."**

**"I don't go into town ever… well, not much," Angie Lee said. "When I do, I kind of… uh… disguise myself. It's better if no one knows about me living here. I would like it if you kept my secret for me."**

**Jeff shrugged. "Sure… if that's what you want… but you're welcome in the CrashDown… or in our home… any time. I want you to know that."**

**"Thank you," Angie Lee said, smiling politely. "I'll remember that."**

**"Well, here's to everyone being together again," Mr. Whitman said, and everyone in the room nodded and voiced their agreement. "I never thought this day would come. I thought we had lost Alex forever. I can only imagine how some of you must have felt after so much time… not seeing your children since… that terrible day… at graduation… thinking they were dead. But we're all back together now, all of us, for good!"**

**Jim looked around somewhat uncomfortably. "Well, you know that they'll have to stay here for a while… I still don't know how long that will be… and nobody else can know that they're here."**

**"We understood that," Mr. Whitman said. "We can live with that to get our son back alive and safe."**

**Jim smiled. **

**"I am very happy to see all of you together, too," Rahn said. "But there is a saying where I come from… 'It is of no use to inventory the glahkies while the boryx is still nearby.' I don't want to worry anyone, but it is a wise lesson to remember.**

**Jim nodded. "I guess that would be like saying, 'Don't count your chickens while the fox is still in the coop.'"**

**"Well, these animals are somewhat smaller," Rahn said. "A boryx is something like your weasel, but it is a big one, as big as one of your bears… and glahkies are… kind of like small sheep. But what you said is a good analogy," Rahn agreed. "It has the same meaning."**

**"You mean… Judge Lewis," Jeff Parker said.**

**Rahn nodded. "Yes… and the special unit agents. There are still dangers for you to beware of. I remind you of this… because you are my friends."**

**Everyone nodded. They understood. But neither that nor anything else now or ever could spoil this day. For this moment in time, all the boryxes, all the foxes, and all the Judge Lewises and special unit agents in the world didn't exist. There was only them and their children… and they were finally, finally together again.**

**                                            ************

**In the desert, about a mile outside of Roswell, a passing car stopped, and the driver looked at the short, pudgy, profusely sweating, older man plodding away under the hot sun.**

**"Can I give you a ride? It's got to be awful hot out there in the desert. Where's your car?"**

**The man didn't answer immediately. He just climbed into the car beside the driver.**

**"My car broke down a few miles back."**

**"Oh yeah? I didn't see it."**

**"It's off the road. You wouldn't see it from the road."**

**"What you got there?" the driver asked, noticing that his passenger was carrying something in his hand.**

**Judge Lewis held up his hand and the dirty folded rag in it and smiled for the first time.**

**"My proof. I win."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: A weasel by any other name **


	25. Dreams24

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Party Till The Sun Goes Down**

**Chapter 24**

**XXIV******

**It was a very good day… a beautiful day… a wonderful day. At 9:22 on this morning, three families had been reunited… their children brought back from the dead, some of them more literally than anyone cared to think about, after unimaginable heartache. There were no strangers or outsiders in Gray Hawk's house this day. There was only one big family… and every single person there was a part of this big family. Michael… and now Angie Lee as well… had been practically adopted by the Evanses. Jeff Parker was treating Rahn as though Rahn were Liz's older brother and his eldest son, which might have been stretching credibility if Rahn had actually looked his true age of 127 earth years… but after all, he was barely out of adolescence for his species. Even Gray Hawk, for all anyone would have been able to tell, might have been the beloved Grandfather that they had all known and loved all their lives. **

**"Mom," Maria said, motioning with her eyes in the direction of Jim Valenti, who stood watching everyone else's reactions with a huge satisfied smile on his own face. "Sheriff Valenti helped all of us, but he seems to be kind of alone over there. Maybe we should go over and talk to him… you know… let him know we appreciate him."**

**Amy looked at Maria and smiled. "Why Maria! I think that's a great idea! You're such a sweetheart!"**

**"Well, Mom, he is kind of a nice guy, actually… I mean, once you get to know him and all… and he did put everything on the line for all of us. We kind of owe him that… I think we should be nice to him."**

**Amy nodded. "You are so right. I'm going to go over and take care of that right now."**

**Amy walked over to Jim with a big smile on her face and put her arms around Jim's neck. Jim smiled and put one arm around Amy, pulling her close, and Amy planted a long and passionate kiss on Jim's lips, as Maria watched, her mouth falling further and further open in disbelief the longer the kiss went on.**

**"Well, Sheriff Valenti looks pretty happy," Liz said, rolling her chair up beside Maria. **

**"Mom doesn't need much coaxing, does she?" Maria stammered, shaking her head. **

**Liz smiled.**

**"I just meant she should talk to him… maybe a hug… you know… to show him that somebody appreciated him."**

**"I think your Mom delivered that message pretty well," Liz said with a giggle.**

**"Honey, come over here," Amy called, motioning to Maria. **

**Maria walked toward Jim and her mother, trying to hide the surprise she knew must be showing on her face with a smile.**

**"Hi, Sheriff! I guess you noticed Mom's here. Well, I mean, of course you noticed she's HERE… You brought her here. But… I mean, here, you know… like… in this room… here."**

**Jim nodded and grinned. "Yeah, I noticed. If she was in the room, I wouldn't miss her."**

**"Sorry," Maria said, wincing. "I guess that sounded kind of lame, didn't it?"**

**"Naw. Not really… I didn't think so."**

**"You're just trying to be nice," Maria said, still smiling, and trying not to blush uncharacteristically.**

**"Well, I reckon I should be nice to my daughter," Jim said. "Don't you think?"  
  
Maria looked at Jim then at her mother. It was something on her mother's face that told her everything she needed to know even without a word being spoken.**

**Maria pulled back, and her mouth dropped open. "You… you got married?!"**

**It was more of an exclamation of surprise than a question really. Maria saw it in Amy's face. She knew. There could be no doubt. Disbelief… yes. Doubt… none.**

**"Jim promised we could have a proper wedding when you were home again, Honey," Amy said. "But, yeah… we did it. We tied the knot! Can you believe it?"**

**"Omigod…" Maria stammered. "How did this happen… Where… When… Why?"**

**"All the important 'W' words," Jim said, laughing. "Well, okay… WHERE was in your Mom's gardens, WHEN was July 15th, at her wake, right after she returned from the base, and WHY… Well, that one's easy… I love her."**

**"Mom?"**

**"All the same answers," Amy said.**

**"Well, I know that, Mom… but… what wake? Isn't a wake like for dead people?"**

**"Yeah… usually, I think so," Amy said. "Don't worry, Dear… It was all a mistake."**

**"Mom, you've got a lot of explaining to do!"**

**Amy and Jim both laughed.**

**"I thought that was the parents' line," Jim said.**

**"I just want to know everything, Mom. You got married in the gardens? You must have looked beautiful!"**

**Amy snorted. "Only if having desert dust and sweat caked in my hair, all over my face, and in every imaginable place on my body is beautiful."**

**"Well, I thought she was beautiful," Jim said. **

**Amy smiled and kissed him. "Just keep saying that kind of stuff, Jim. You're getting better at fibbing all the time. And I'll take it any way I can get it!"**

**Amy looked back at Maria. "I guess I do have a lot of 'explaining' to do, Honey. It might take some time, though."**

**"I've got time, Ma."**

**Jim looked at his watch. It was almost 11:00 AM.**

**"We don't have to go yet, do we," Amy pleaded.**

**Jim shook his head. "It's not that. I was expecting one more person to make it here this morning. I was just wondering what happened to him."**

**As though just waiting for that introduction, at that very moment, there was a knock on the door. Gray Hawk peeked out the curtains then went to the door and opened it.**

**Liz turned around in her chair, and a smile lit up her face…**

**"Kyle? Omigod, Kyle! How did you get here? How did you know?"**

**"I tortured my Dad till he talked."**

**Liz looked at Jim, and he was nodding. "Do you know how persistent this boy can be? He figured out that you and Alex were still alive and that I must have hid you somewhere, and he wouldn't give me a moment's peace till I told him where you were."**

**"Well, that's not exactly the way it was," Kyle said. "Dad pretended he didn't know what I was talking about, like, forever. It wasn't until he decided to make this trip that I got him to let me in on the secret."**

**"Don't ever let this boy work for the secret service… He'll be impossible! Promise me!"**

**Liz laughed. "Kyle, I'm sooooo glad to see you again! You don't know how much I want to tell you about everything that's happened!"**

**"And I want to hear it all, too, Liz. I heard you've been through a lot since I saw you right after you woke up from the… you know… the coma."**

**"Alex has, too," Liz said. "…been through a lot with me, I mean."**

**"Yeah, I heard. I thought you guys had 'bought the farm' like everybody else did for a while there. It was devastating."**

**"Aw, Kyle! You do care," Liz said, smiling at Kyle and touching his face.**

**"Well, yeah! You've still got my Sense Field CD."**

**Kyle's serious expression slowly gave way to a smile. "Yeah… I care, Liz…" he said, his voice becoming almost emotional. "You know I do. I care a lot about you. You and I had something together once… Well, I thought we did, anyway… until you went and got alien-abducted." Kyle smiled, as though to show he was willing to accept reality now, even if somewhere deep inside him, he still carried a small flame for Liz.**

**"Only my heart was abducted by the alien," Liz said. "But I don't think I put up much of a fight."**

**Kyle shook his head. "No… You didn't."**

**"You'll find your true love, too, Kyle… someday. But you'll always be special to me. Don't ever forget about me… no matter what… okay?"**

**"Shhh! Like that could happen," Kyle exclaimed. "No worry there, Liz. You're very special to me… even if you did let yourself go and get abducted by that vile alien king!"**

**Liz laughed.**

**"Did I hear someone talking about me," Max asked, walking up behind Kyle.**

**"Oh, No! It's the vile alien king!" Kyle exclaimed, standing up and turning around to face Max. Kyle looked at Max for what seemed like a long time, then he grinned.**

**"You know, Max… I think I'm actually glad to see you… I don't know why. You stole my girl, and I don't think I ever even loaned you any of my CD's…" Kyle smiled. "Oh, yeah! Maybe it's 'cause I liked you… kind of. That must be it. You were alright… I mean, for a vile alien king… you know what I mean?"**

**Max nodded.**

**"We thought you, Michael, Isabel, and Maria were all dead after graduation night. I'm glad that was wrong. I've got to tell you, it was a bit of a shock, though, to find out that you were still alive. Liz tried to tell me that she could feel you, but…"**

**"I hear you helped prove I wasn't dead," Max said. "Your Dad said that I had you to thank for making that coffin fall and break open after the judge showed up with the order to keep him from opening it."**

**"Yeah… I guess I did. When the judge and Dad were arguing, I kind of pulled on the ropes, and, oops!"**

**Max smiled. "So Thanks."**

**"Don't mention it."**

**"Oh, and Kyle," Max said, turning around to face Kyle again before walking back to his parents, "That may be the only time you'll ever get to drop me on my head and get away with it."**

**Kyle grinned. "Hey, I had to do it, Max. Opportunities like that only come once in a lifetime… even if you weren't actually in it."**

**Max smiled and nodded.**

**"Kyle," Liz said, as Max walked away, "How did you get here? You didn't come with the others."**

**"Nobody came together," Kyle said. "Dad had everyone meet at the lake near here, then he brought them all onto the reservation. Everyone drove separate vehicles to the lake, though… just in case Judge Lewis has any spies in town. I was out of town this morning when Dad left… so I got a ride to the lake later then rented a kayak and got here on the river. The judge is out of town, too. Several people saw him heading across the desert in his car three days ago, and he hasn't come back yet. Even if he left at daybreak this morning from the nearest town across the desert, he couldn't get back to Roswell before nightfall, and we'll all be gone before that, so we've pretty much got the day to ourselves, you know what I mean? While the alley cat's got its head in the trashcan, the mice can paaar-ty! Dad's already got another plan for us to come back again another time… if you're here very long."**

**"That would be great, Kyle! That'll give us something to look forward to… if we have to stay here very long." Liz paused then looked suddenly thoughtful… "Kyle, do you think Judge Lewis actually has spies in town?"**

**"No… probably not. Dad says the judge likes to do his own spying. And besides, the judge doesn't trust anyone else… probably with pretty good reason… He's not very popular. Dad was just playing it safe by having everyone drive to the lake in separate vehicles. He doesn't like surprises."**

**"Yeah, I know." Liz smiled. "I thought he was going to freak out when the judge showed up at the hospital with state troopers and took Alex and me away. I thought the countdown to an atomic blast had just begun."**

**Kyle laughed. "Yeah. He was up all night that night making plans, reading all the bios of his deputies, drinking tons of black coffee… I don't think he really slept for several days… until he knew Deputy Cotter was in there watching you guys. Then he started making plans to hide you, and he came up here to the reservation and talked to River Dog…"**

**"Did your Dad plan that part where the agent was supposed to shoot us… I mean… did your Dad plan that to make it look like we were dead?"**

**Kyle shook his head. "No. Dad still doesn't understand that either. He and Deputy Cotter just took advantage of the unexpected opportunity and got you guys out of there. But it's not normal for a trained special agent like that to miss… TWICE."**

**"He didn't," Liz said. **

**Kyle's eyes opened wider. "Did you… get hit?"**

**"No. He hit his target. It just wasn't me and Alex, it was the bed. I think maybe he intended to shoot us when he first let himself into the room, but he kept looking into my eyes, like he thought he knew me almost… It felt weird. I think it was freaking him out, too. He just looked at both of us like forever, then a voice on his walkie-talkie wanted to know what was keeping him, and that seemed to wake him up. He looked like he was going to shoot us then, but instead, he shot two bullets into the bed and left. He did it on purpose… I don't know why."**

**"Maybe he thought you were too pretty to shoot."**

**Liz snorted. "Get real, Kyle! I looked like a rag doll! Besides, Judge Lewis would gladly dance on my grave."**

**"Well, what does Judge Lewis know? He doesn't like women."**

**"He's gay?"**

**"No. He's in love with himself. Besides, there's no one in Roswell who'd have him. He hasn't met his Lulu Belle yet."**

**"Lulu Belle?"**

**"Yeah, you know… Boss Hogg had his Lulu Belle… Okay, you had to watch old reruns on TNN to know that… or be older. Dukes of Hazzard."**

**"Oh, yeah… I think I saw them once or twice."**

**"Never mind," Kyle said. "Compared to Judge Lewis, Boss Hogg was just a cute little choir boy anyway."**

**Liz laughed. "Well, he does seem to have his own agenda… and he's not very social."**

**"I just wish we knew what that agenda was," Kyle said. "It would help Dad figure out how to help you guys get home again."**

**Kyle looked at Alex and the others enjoying themselves. "Come on, Liz, let's join the party!"**

**Liz smiled, and the sparkle in her eyes told Kyle that she already was enjoying it very much indeed.**

**                                         ************

**~ 8:58 PM ~**

**As the last rays of the sun were disappearing, a car rolled into Roswell covered with dust accumulated from a trip across the desert.**

**"Hey! Hey, guy! You're here. You're in Roswell. Wake up!"**

**"Huh?" Judge Lewis sat up a bit and looked around. He didn't realize he had dozed off in the air conditioning, but he was exhausted and overheated from his walk in the desert; he just couldn't admit it… most of all to himself. Judge Lewis was no masochist, and in different times, he would have been only too happy to look for an open bar or a masseuse and sauna after what he had been through. Nobody loved the pursuit of pleasures more than the judge. But obsession played a bigger role in his life than even the pursuit of idle leisure and debauchery. For now, proving what he thought he knew was an obsession, and nothing… nothing at all… could trump that in his mind.**

**"Where do you live, man? I'll drop you off at your house."**

**"Huh? Oh, no, that's all right, just drop me off in front of my office. It's straight ahead about a mile."**

**"You sure? It's after work hours already, and you look like you need a drink, man, at least."**

**"Yeah… I'll be fine. I've got something I've gotta do first."**

**"All right, man, have it your way. Let me know when we get there 'kay?"**

**"Yeah, okay."**

**Judge Lewis glanced at the rag in his hand. It was a gamble. If he couldn't convince them that this was something important, he would lose face… and worse. He'd lose his connections… and a great deal of untaxed income. But if he could make them see that this little piece of skin was somehow important, he would strengthen his hand and his connections. It was worth the gamble. It was all in the way he presented it. He would have to get agent Culpepper out here to look at what he had. He guessed that the less information he gave Culpepper on the phone the better his chances would be of getting him here. Too much information and Culpepper might just write him off as a kook and not come… especially if he started talking about giant snakes or strange super birds before he had Culpepper in his office to show him what he had found. But the right information… just the right information… and nothing more… might pique Culpepper's interest and get him here. And Judge Lewis knew just how he was going to handle it. **

**tbc**

**Coming Up: Judge Lewis presents his evidence. **


	26. Dreams25

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Claws Of The Boryx**

**Chapter 25**

**XXV******

**~ 9:12 PM ~**

**Judge Lewis jumped out of the car, forgetting, in his haste, to even thank the driver who had rescued him from the desert. After regaining consciousness, he had spent two days in his disabled car with the doors mysteriously jammed and another night and part of a day walking in the sun. He still wasn't sure how he got back inside his car after being attacked by the snake; he simply woke up there. In spite of this, Judge Lewis ran straight into his office and immediately dialed the number he had for the agent he knew only as "Culpepper." **

**"Yeah?"**

**"It's me," Judge Lewis said, trying to talk and quench his thirst at the same time with water from a paper cup that he had just filled from the cooler beside his desk.**

**"Yeah, Judge, I recognize your voice. What do you want?"**

**"It's not what I want, Culpepper, it's what you want."**

**"Okay, the agent sighed. "So what do I want?"**

**"Something you're missing. Do I need to say more?"**

**There was a brief pause on the line. "I'll be there."**

**Thirty-eight minutes later, three agents let themselves into Judge Lewis' office. Judge Lewis had not bothered to lock his door. It never did any good anyway. And besides, this time, he wanted them here.**

**"Have you guys lost a bird?"**

**Culpepper looked at the other two agents, and they returned the look with blank stares. Then he looked back at Judge Lewis in disbelief.**

**"I thought you had information about some missing, uh, prisoners that escaped from the base recently, Judge. Is this some kind of joke?" Culpepper leaned over Judge Lewis' desk and put his face close to the judge's face in a deliberate attempt to intimidate him. "If you'll look closely at my face, it's not smiling."**

**Judge Lewis backed up involuntarily. **

**"It's no joke, Colonel. Have you lost your bird?"**

**There was a pause, and the agent's face reddened noticeably, as he collected his thoughts.**

**"I'm sorry I referred you to that urologist, Judge. You don't need a urologist, you need a psychiatrist!"**

**"I don't think so," Judge Lewis retorted. "You guys are doing something secretive out there, and I think I've seen something that you would very much like to get back." **

**"You haven't started believin' in all that UFO hogwash, have you, Judge?"**

**"UFO's? Come on, Colonel! What do you take me for? A kook?"**

**"Hey! Now there's something I hadn't thought of!" Culpepper said sarcastically."**

**Judge Lewis paid the sarcasm no attention. "You guys are doing some kind of research out there. I've heard about the special planes and stuff, but I think you're doing biological research, too. You've managed to produce a very special bird… something that looks like a roadrunner but can kill a hawk… It's like a roadrunner on amphetamines… and it's feathers turn into some kind of… something that looks like skin when they get knocked off. How am I doing? Huh? Not laughing now, are you? God knows what else this bird of yours is capable of!"**

**There was a long pause, as the agent thought about what Judge Lewis had said. His first inclination was to simply write the judge off and report that he had flipped out and would be of no further use to them, but he felt in his bones that there was more to this than he could see. The missing alien kept coming to his mind… and he wasn't sure why. He couldn't imagine what the alien had to do with Judge Lewis' bird. But the rumor among some who knew on the base was that, years ago, when the alien was first captured, it had suffered extensive wounds and had somehow healed itself by altering it's wounds. Several times over the years, the Army had tried to force the alien to give them a "demonstration" in the lab, but to no avail. The alien had been uncooperative, even under extreme duress. Yet, somehow… Culpepper still had a feeling that the missing alien had something to do with Judge Lewis' bird. If he thought it, though, he wasn't about to admit it…**

**"You're crazy, Judge."**

**"I don't think so." Judge Lewis reached into his desk and pulled out the dirty rag. He unrolled it, exposing the piece of skin, which measured about two inches by two and a half inches. It was still bleeding. In fact, it seemed to be producing more blood. Culpepper and the other two agents looked at the piece of skin, obviously interested.**

**"Where did you see this… uh, 'Mothra' bird?"**

**"Ah! Ah ha! You want to know, don't you? Well, it'll cost you… for saying I needed a psychiatrist."**

**"Which way did it fly?"**

**"How much is it worth?"**

**"What do you think you saw?"**

**"When can I expect a 'thank you?'"**

**"The agent sighed deeply. "I'll have it delivered… the usual way… the usual amount."**

**"Double," Judge Lewis said.**

**"You're getting greedy, Horace.**

**"I've got something you really want… bad," Judge Lewis countered, feeling sure of himself now. There was a short pause.**

**"Okay… double. Where did you see the bird?"**

**"In town… then in the desert. I don't know where it went after that. It disappeared after the run-in with the hawk."**

**"Maybe the hawk ate it," Culpepper sneered.**

**"You didn't see all the hawk feathers I saw in the desert, Colonel. Looked to me more like the roadrunner ate the hawk."**

**"Roadrunners aren't exactly Olympic flyers, Judge. They tire out quickly. Most of the time they'd rather run than fly."**

**"Not this one."**

**"Okay… Which way was it flying?"**

**"Straight out across the desert."**

**"That's not worth anything to us, Judge. What towns lie in the direction the bird was flying?"**

**Judge Lewis thought a moment. "No towns… that I know of… just some trees… then the river… the Mesaliko Reservation… and a lot of desert."**

**"The Mesaliko Indian Reservation?"**

**"Yeah."**

**There was another pause.**

**Culpepper reached into his inside coat pocket and took out two large stacks of hundred dollar bills, which he plopped down on Judge Lewis' desk. Then he picked up the rag and the piece of skin in it and put them into his coat pocket. **

**"Don't bother counting it, Judge. It's all there."**

**                                           ************

**~ 11:45 PM ~ on the Mesaliko Indian Reservation **

**The agent put the night view binoculars back up to his eyes and scanned the scattered rows of Indian homes again… for perhaps the hundredth time tonight… and for the hundredth time tonight, he saw nothing unusual. Most of the Indians on the reservation had retired early, as was the habit of the older ones in particular, and had their curtains drawn, though a few of the younger ones were in town at the only pool hall that was still open. In any case, absolutely nothing was happening on the reservation.**

**"This is getting nowhere, Barker. Nothing's moving out there."**

**"Keep watching Terrier… and use my code name."**

**"Terrier" looked at Barker and rolled his eyes. "There's no one out here on this hillside but us and a bunch of blood-sucking mosquitoes… Sir!"**

**"I don't care. It's still Culpepper. Follow protocol, Terrier."**

**Terrier nodded and looked through the binoculars again. For the hundred and first time, he saw nothing out of the ordinary and nothing moving at all. He rolled over and handed Barker the binoculars.**

**Barker looked up and down the distant lowland at the scattered houses. Every house was quiet. Every house had its curtains drawn. And every house was totally normal-looking in every respect. Nothing was amiss. If anything was hiding here, it didn't look like they were going to find it lying on this hillside being unwilling blood donors for a happy fleet of mosquitoes.**

**"Damn!" Terrier mumbled, swatting his face again.**

**"You should have used the skin-so-soft, Terrier. I'm telling you, it works."**

**"I'd rather be carried back to the base with all my blood drained out, Sir."**

**"That may happen."**

**"I won't use that sissy stuff… Sir. That's Avon. It's for women."**

**"Suit yourself, Terrier. Rub some more on me then."**

**"Sir!"**

**"That's an order!"**

**Terrier groaned but took the lotion and began rubbing it on the backs of Barker's arms and legs. Both men's bodies were adequately covered with thick camouflage clothing, but somehow, the mosquitoes seemed to be able to get through to the face and extremities anyway.**

**"Sir," Terrier asked, "Do you really think the bird the judge saw had something to do with the escaped alien?"**

**"You saw that piece of skin the judge had. It wasn't human."**

**"You think it came from a bird, Sir?"**

**"I think it came from our alien… wherever he is. It looks like other samples of his skin I've seen. Maybe he was out there in the desert and the judge was just hallucinating that he saw a bird… the hot sun, you know. Or maybe our alien disguised himself by wearing Indian feathers or something… I don't know. Hell, maybe he can turn into a bird."**

**"Like a mutant, Sir?" the agent asked. Barker rolled his eyes and ignored the question. The fact is, he never had believed that there had even been a bird. He was convinced, however, that the judge had seen something and that that something was their escaped alien, most likely wearing a disguise and hiding out either in the desert nearby or on the reservation. **

**"Terrier," Barker said, as he rolled back over and looked through the binoculars again… "If you were an alien hiding out here… Where would you hide?"**

**"How would I know, Sir?"**

**"Well, think about it."**

**"I don't know… Maybe I'd take over the body of a young, good-looking brave and marry a pretty Indian girl."**

**"They don't do that body-snatching stuff, Terrier. That's just Hollywood movie crap."**

**"Well, you asked, Sir. Besides, how do you know real aliens don't do that?"**

**There was no answer from Barker.**

**"Maybe someone on the reservation is hiding him," Terrier suggested.**

**"Why would they do that?"**

**"Maybe they like him better than they like us."**

**"No one likes us, Terrier! They're not supposed to! It's not part of our job descriptions to be popular. We do what has to be done, and we ask for no glory. We're not contestants in a damned beauty contest!"**

**"Well, I know that, Sir. I just meant that it could be a reason why someone might hide him from us."**

**Barker groaned. "We're not going to find anything out here tonight. Let's get back to the lab and see what that piece of skin… or whatever it was… turned out to be. If there's anything unusual about it, we can come back and raid this place… with proper backup."**

**"Raid a reservation?" Terrier asked, surprised.**

**"You got a problem with that?" Barker asked.**

**"Well… no… but the Indians might. And for that matter, a lot of bleeding hearts out there might, too. The media would just have a picnic with it."**

**"So we come up with a good excuse," Barker said. "If that piece of skin is from our alien, I'll take this reservation apart house by house myself if I need to. And I'll have all the support I need. It just takes the right words."**

**                                           ********** **

**~ 6:05 AM ~ Roswell**

**Before the sun began to show its first morning rays over Roswell, Jim Valenti was already up and having breakfast with Amy and Kyle, preparing to start his day as Roswell's sheriff. It was something on the television in the living room that caught his attention. He hadn't been paying any attention to the news, but the words "Army" and "Mesaliko Reservation" brought him to attention. He ran to the TV to turn it up.**

**Sources report that at 5 o'clock this morning the Army began moving tanks and other war vehicles into position around the Mesaliko Indian Reservation near Roswell. We have no independent confirmation of this report as yet, but a KUVA news team is on the way to Roswell now, and we will let you know anything further as soon as we find out ourselves. More on the news at seven. This is Bob Harwood with KUVA News in Santa Fe reporting.**

**Amy turned to hand Jim his hat, but he was already out the door. She looked back at Kyle.**

**"Go on. It's okay. I'll be fine. I always stay here by myself."**

**It didn't take any further encouragement. Amy was out the door, and as Jim started his vehicle up, Amy hopped into the seat beside him. Jim knew better than to argue.**

**"You better buckle up, Amy."**

**Amy did.**

**As Jim tore out of his driveway, his home phone began to ring, and Kyle answered it.**

**"Oh, hello Mr. Evans… Yeah, we heard… Yeah, Dad's checking it out now. It's news to us, too… We don't know what's going on. Dad'll handle it, and he'll keep you informed… No, I don't think he would want a lot of people out there putting themselves in danger… Well, yeah… I know it's Max and Isabel, but… Dad will… Mr. Evans?"**

**The phone clicked.**

**"Yeah. That's what I figured you'd do, anyway," Kyle mumbled to himself, throwing a shirt on over his T-shirt and locking the front door as he left the house.**

**In another Roswell home, another phone began to ring. Mrs. Whitman rolled over in her bed and picked it up.**

**"Hello?"**

**She listened for a few moments then sat up quickly in her bed.**

**"What? When?"**

**"5 o'clock this morning… heard it on the early news… Sheriff… checking it out…" **

**"Okay… Thanks, Diane. I appreciate you letting us know."**

**Mrs. Whitman woke her husband up and told him about the call, then she jumped out of the bed and started to get dressed as he threw on his clothes and grabbed his car keys. Within ten minutes, they were in their car heading towards the Mesaliko Reservation.**

**                                             ************

**~ 7:00 AM ~ **

**Jim stopped his vehicle at the entrance to the reservation and looked over at Amy.**

**"Why are we stopping, Jim?"**

**"Well, if the Army is watching and we rush straight in, we'll be leading them right to the kids. We need to find out what's going on here without jeopardizing the kids."**

**Amy nodded. "Maybe we could create a little disinformation at the same time," she suggested.**

**"I'm open to suggestions," Jim agreed.**

**As they sat there, Phillip and Diane Evans drove up. Seeing Jim and Amy, they paused and rolled down their window.**

**"What's going on, Sheriff," Phillip asked. "Have you found out anything?"**

**"Not yet," Jim yelled back. "But Phillip, you can't just go charging in there… you'll lead them right to the kids… if that's who they're looking for."**

**Phillip looked at Diane then back at Jim. In their haste, they hadn't thought of this, but both of them knew instantly that Jim was right. If they just rushed right in they might as well paint a big arrow to Gray Hawk's house and put a sign on it saying, "They're here!"**

**"What can we do, Sheriff?"**

**"Well, I'd say go home, Phillip… and wait till I find something out… but I doubt you're going to do that, so see if you can come up with any suggestions to help me out here. I'm open to anything at the moment."**

**"I called the Whitman's from my cell phone on the way," Diane said. "They'll probably be showing up soon, too."**

**"Great," Jim sighed. "Just what we needed… more people. Okay, move your car a little closer to mine. That way, when they get here, they'll have to stop. I don't want them rushing in."**

**Phillip nodded and moved his car towards Jim's a bit. Seconds later, another vehicle drove up, but this one wasn't the Whitmans. It was a news crew in a news van. The van slowed to a stop, and the driver looked at the words "Sheriff's Dept." on the side of Jim's vehicle, which was blocking the way. Then he held out their credentials for Jim to see. "Sheriff! Can we pass?"**

**Jim thought for a moment. "What do you plan to do while you're in there?"**

**"We're gonna give a live, on-the-scene report from the Reservation," the driver said. "If we can find out anything, we'll report it. What can you tell us, Sheriff? What are they looking for?"**

**Jim looked at Amy, and Amy winked. Jim nodded.**

**"Well, I'm not at liberty to release this information, understand. But the, uh, 'object' they're looking for was seen about thirty miles east of here about an hour ago, and according to my sources, it's on its way through Texas now. I guess the Army hasn't figured that out yet. Don't quote me on that, though! This is strictly off the record. If you report that I said this, I'll deny it."**

**"I understand," the driver said, looking back at one of his news anchors… "You got that, Kitty?"**

**"Got it."**

**"All right," Jim said to the driver. "I'll move out of your way. I'll watch your report from here. Stay away from the residents' houses, and don't make pests of yourselves. The Reservation is private land, and it has its own laws. Stay out of trouble."**

**"Thanks, we'll keep that in mind," the driver said, as Jim moved his vehicle. **

**Jim nodded then turned to Amy. "Do you still have that little TV back there?"**

**"The one that plugs into the cigarette lighter?"**

**"That's the one."**

**"Yeah, it's here."**

**Jim moved his vehicle back into place… just in time to catch the Whitman's, who were arriving at a fast clip. Diane Evans filled them in on what Jim had told them.**

**Amy already had the little TV plugged in and had located station KUVA. Jim, Amy, Phillip, Diane, and the Whitmans crowded together to watch. **

**                                         ************

**~ 7:43 AM ~**

**"Is the mike on? How do I look? Okay, let's do it… on One! Three… Two… One…**

**Good morning! This is Kitty Kashizzle reporting for KUVA Sante Fe from the Mesaliko Indian Reservation in Roswell, New Mexico. At 5 o'clock this morning, sources notified this station that the U.S.Army was mobilizing several battalions around the Mesaliko Indian Reservation. As we speak, it appears that they are indeed planning to attack the Reservation with military force. If you will look out there…" The newsgirl pointed off in the distance, and the cameras panned over the hills, zooming in on a large number of Bradley Vehicles, tanks, and other war machines that had gathered already just out of easy eye sight… but not out of view of the camera's high-powered lenses.**

**"Over those hills, you will see dozens… no… make that hundreds… of tanks, Bradley Vehicles, Humvees… and other military equipment, all manned with heavily-armed soldiers, all poised to swoop down on this apparently peaceful little Reservation, the residents of which appear to be blissfully unaware of the danger that lies ahead for them.**

**Efforts to find out exactly what the Army expects to accomplish from this highly-questionable raid have produced no good answers… either from the Army's headquarters or from calls to higher-up military sources… but a confidential source has informed us that the object of the Army's search may never have been here at all and may, in fact, no longer even be in New Mexico. This source tells us that as recently as two hours ago, the object of the search was seen 30 miles east of here and that it is now in Texas. **

**We will stay on top of this, here on the Reservation, and report all the news for you as it happens, so stay tuned to KUVA Santa Fe for all the news that's news. This is Kitty Kashizzle reporting for KUVA Santa Fe."**

**The newsgirl looked at the cameraman, and he nodded. "Great job, Kitty! You're a real pro!"**

**"Thanks, Jake. I wish Rogers would realize that. On the other hand, though, maybe a pro's not what he wants. Maybe a barroom girl would be more to his liking."**

**The cameraman laughed. "You're probably right, Kitty. Give the old man what he wants. Keep your job. You're too good to lose just because old Rogers can't see past the peaks."**

**"Well, one of these days I'm gonna get there, Jake… climb out of this little circus… and he's gonna find those 'peaks' a bit dangerous when I do."**

**As they spoke, a man no one had noticed approaching walked up to Kitty and offered her his hand.**

**"Kitty Kashizzle?"**

**The newsgirl looked around. "Yeah, that would be me. There's no one else here by that name, I'm afraid. Do I know you?"**

**"No… not really. I'm the one who called in the anonymous report this morning… the source."**

**The girl's mouth fell open. "You're our source? Oh, good! Good! Maybe you can clear up some things. How did you know this operation was going to happen? It was hardly even underway when you called."**

**"I have inside connections."**

**"What's your name? I can't keep calling you 'source' all the time."**

**"Dan. Just Dan… for now. I can't be seen or named on the news, though. It would jeopardize a lot of things… my life included."**

**"Okay. What is the Army looking to find here… Dan?"**

**"Escapees… one in particular."**

**"Like… convicts?"  
  
**

**"No. Convicts were 'convicted.' That's why they're called 'convicts.' These prisoners are more like… victims."**

**"Victims?"**

**Dan nodded.**

**"Victims… of the Army?"**

**"Victims of a few higher-up Army personnel and a special unit that was legally disbanded by Congress several years ago but is still operating under the radar."**

**"All right… All right," the newsgirl said excitedly, looking for her pen and notepad. "That was good! Victims of a few higher-ups and a special unit disbanded by Congress several years back but still operating in secret. What unit was that?"**

**"The alien task force."**

**The newsgirl looked at the man for several moments. "Are you saying that… the Army… all those tanks and men out there… are looking for… an alien?"**

**Dan nodded.**

**Slowly the girl began to smile. "You're putting me on, right… because this is Roswell and all…?"**

**Dan shook his head. **

**"All right… Okay… How do you know this… I mean, assuming that it's true."**

**"Because I'm a member of the alien task force."**

**"The disbanded… alien task force…" the newsgirl clarified.**

**Dan nodded.**

**The newsgirl turned to her assistant. "Carole, check something out for me. Run a query on Congress' disbanding of an 'alien task force…'" She turned to Dan… "When was this?"**

**"Two years ago… October 9th."**

**"Run that for me, will you, Carole? See what comes up."**

**The assistant rushed into the back of the van and sat down to type in the query on her keyboard. A couple of minutes later, she reappeared and handed the newsgirl the printout. The girl read it quietly then looked at Dan again… with a new look on her face. **

**"Dan… if this is true… I can't tell you how important this would be… to the world… and to me personally."**

**"Why would it be important to you, Kitty?" **

**The girl laughed. "I've always been kind of a UFO freak, Dan. People say I belong out there in the stars. Maybe that's why I'm such a flop here on earth."**

**"A flop? Kitty Kashizzle?"   **

**"Oh please! Kitty Kashizzle! I want to puke every time I have to say that on the air. It's not my real name, you know. My producer thought I needed more sizzle… something to attract a larger male audience. I tried to tell him I'm a newswoman not a frikkin' stripper, but he's got his head stuck so far up his ass that every time he farts, he sneezes."**

**Dan smiled.**

**"You think that's funny?"**

**"I was just picturing it. Besides, I know what it's like to have an idiot boss on the loose."**

**Kitty smiled and nodded. "Yeah. You always feel like you need to dress them in neon just in case they decide to go out and play in the traffic."**

**"We just put a spiked collar on mine and tie him to a tree. Keeps him from chasing the traffic and biting the car tires."**

**Kitty laughed.**

**"So what's your real name, Kitty?"**

**"Diane."**

**"Diane… That's nice. I'll bet your last name's not Kashizzle either."**

**The girl laughed. "No way! Dan… uh…"**

**"Klein."**

**The girl held out her hand. "Hi, Dan Klein, I'm Diane Casey. Glad to meet you."**

**Dan shook the newsgirl's hand. "I like that. Your boss really is an idiot, isn't he?"**

**Diane smiled and laughed. "Yeah… he is. And your boss?"**

**"He's the one who called this raid."**

**Diane nodded. "Well, Dan, let's see if we can shake things up a little, okay? Maybe help some 'victims.'"**

**"That's kind of what I hoped," Dan said. **

**tbc**

**Coming up: The beginning of the end**


	27. Dreams26

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Hour Of Doom**

**Chapter 26**

**XXVI******

**~ 8:05 AM ~**

**Inside Gray Hawk's house on the Mesaliko reservation, the former "guests of the Army" were having breakfast as members of a new élite group: "The Army's Most Wanted." No one had turned on the TV, and no one was yet aware of any of what was going on outside. It was Maria who first had a premonition of impending trouble, suddenly shivering without warning.**

**"What was that?" Max asked with a look of concern on his face.**

**Maria shook her head. "Nothing. I just had a cold chill for a moment."**

**"It's not cold in here," Michael said matter-of-factly, looking at Maria for some sign that she might be coming down with something. Maybe you were remembering something… something scary."**

**"Well, I was… I think… but I wasn't really. A chill just ran up my spine like a… like a… I don't know… kind of a premonition… or a warning or something."**

**"About what," Max and Michael both asked at the same time.**

**"I don't know. It was just a sort of feeling of doom… like I used to get when I was a little girl and I did something bad then hid from Mama then she found me and I knew I was gonna be in big, big trouble." **

**Michael smiled. "You been a bad girl, Maria?"**

**Maria scrunched her nose up slightly but then grinned. "If I had, you'd know, Michael. You're my biggest corrupter."**

**Isabel snickered and nodded.**

**"Well, I'm glad I'm good at something anyway," Michael said.**

**"I've been having that feeling all morning," Liz said.**

**"That Michael's a great corrupter?" Isabel asked, grinning.**

**"No… that something's about to happen. I just can't stop thinking it."**

**Max got up from the table and walked to the window, moving the curtain just a bit to take a look outside. At first he saw nothing unusual, but he knew that Liz's premonitions, even when they were vague and unclear, almost always came to something.**

**"Has anybody seen Gray Hawk this morning," Isabel asked.**

**Maria shook her head.**

**"He was here earlier," Liz said. "He went out about five o'clock this morning… before the sun came up… said he had some important business. I haven't seen him since then."**

**Maria shivered again. Max looked worried then walked over and looked out the window again. This time he scanned the hillsides and road from one end to the other. Then he slowly pulled the curtain back tightly over the window.**

**"What is it," Michael asked, standing up and walking over to look out the window, too.**

**"Don't let yourself be seen," Max said.**

**Michael gazed out through a narrow opening at the edge of the curtain.**

**"Damn!"**

**"What do you think," Max asked.**

**Michael frowned. "Those sun glints up in the hills… metallic… maybe guns… or even tanks… hard to tell."**

**"Could be hunters," Alex said, hopefully.**

**"Yeah," Michael agreed. "Could be. What worries me is what they're hunting here on the reservation. And that's one helluva lot of hunters…"**

**Liz rolled her chair over to Max, and Max bent over and kissed her then hugged her.**

**"It's happening," Liz whispered.**

**Max sighed deeply. He really wanted to say that the sun glints could be nothing… but what came out was,**

**"Yeah."**

**"Okay," Michael said, suddenly taking over as though he had always been expected to lead them in just such a situation, "Max, bolt the doors and block them. Make sure all the windows are locked. Leave us a way to get out fast, though, if we have to. Isabel and Angie Lee… look around the house. Find out where the best place to hide would be if anyone tries to get in. Alex & Maria, see if there's anything we can use to defend ourselves…"  
  
**

**"Weapons?" Alex asked. **

**Michael nodded. "For you and… whoever needs them. Max and I won't need them. Rahn…"**

**"Yes?"**

**Michael thought a minute. "I need you to sneak out there and scout around… you know, see just what we're up against."**

**Rahn smiled. "I'll turn into a small bird. No one will pay attention to a small bird."**

**Michael nodded and looked over at Max, more as a formality than for his permission. Michael had already gone into full "take charge / protect" mode, but Max was still his king, even if it was in another life, a life that neither of them quite remembered. Max nodded his agreement.**

**Michael cracked the door, and a small bird about the size of a sparrow streaked out, headed for the hills. Then Michael closed and locked the door again. Twenty minutes later, Rahn returned. Finding the house locked up tight, he flew around for a few moments then flew up onto the roof. There, he perched on the edge of a smoke vent that served as a sort of chimney for Gray Hawk's fireplace. He took one last look back then teetered forward and tumbled down through the smoke vent, rolling out of the fireplace into the house in front of everyone. **

**"Did you see anything," Max asked, as Rahn stretched his limbs back to their normal size. His head seemed to grow eerily from sparrow-sized to human-sized. Finally, he stood in front of them again as a presentable humanoid. **

**"Tanks… lots of soldiers… and army vehicles." **

**"Damn," Michael said once again. "I knew it. I just knew it."**

**"There's also a news vehicle on the reservation," Rahn added. "And a news crew."**

**"Great," Michael said. "Catch it on the news at six! Special agents, backed up by army tanks, kill alien invaders trying to take over Mesaliko Reservation. The world is safe again!"**

**"Maybe people will see what's really happening," Liz said. "Maybe they'll be on our side."**

**Michael looked at Liz sympathetically and shook his head. "Don't count on it. People aren't like that. They want to see blood and guts. They want drama. They don't want fuzzy cuddly stuff."**

**"Some people do," Liz insisted.**

**"Well, maybe in your world, Liz… not in mine," Michael replied seriously. "I'm just telling you what to expect."**

**"Michael's right," Max interjected. "We can't expect help from the media or from anyone else who might see what's happening. They won't know the real story. What they hear will be what the Army wants them to hear… what the Army tells them. I have to agree with Michael. We can't expect them to be on our side."**

**"I just think we should consider the possibility of them being on our side," Liz insisted… "At least consider the possibility that we could turn them to our side."**

**"Yeah… if we had the chance," Michael said. "But I don't see the Army giving us that chance. As soon as one of us goes out there, it's all over. Those Special Unit and FBI guys need us dead. Dead aliens don't talk and give stories to the press –or to Congress- stories that might be embarrassing."**

**Liz swallowed. She knew that what Michael was saying wasn't just paranoia. He did have a very valid point. Their safety depended on their making no mistakes. If this was a mistake, it would very likely be a deadly and final one. Liz nodded.**

**"So what are we supposed to do," Isabel asked. "Just sit here and wait for them to come get us?"**

**"They don't know where we are," Max said. "If they did, they'd already be here. They're looking."**

**"Well, they must know we're on the reservation," Isabel replied. "Because they're out there."**

**"Yeah," Michael agreed. "I wonder how they found out."**

**"I'll bet that somehow Judge Lewis could answer that question," Maria said. **

**Max nodded somberly.**

**"Well, we're safer right now staying right where we are and keeping a low profile," Michael said. "Maybe if we're lucky that TV crew being out there will make them think twice about attacking Indian homes… but I kind of doubt it."**

**"So do I," Max agreed. "But I'll bet that TV crew out there is the only reason they haven't attacked yet. They're probably figuring out what story they're going to feed to the media when it happens."**

**Michael nodded. "We need a plan, Max. We're on borrowed time here."**

**"Yeah, I know." **

**Angie Lee tapped Max on the shoulder, and Max looked at her.**

**"This might help you, Max. It's the reason I went back to the university a few days ago. I still don't know what all of it says."**

**She handed Max a very old-looking book bound in something that looked like brown leather.**

**"What is it," Max asked.**

**"Look inside."**

**Max opened the book. Inside was writing that looked very much like the limited amount of Antarian writing he had seen… but a little different.**

**"Is this another romance novel, Angie?"**

**"No… not this one. This one's an instruction manual," Angie Lee said. "And look…" She turned the pages. On one of the pages, there were hand-drawn pictures of several people… people who just happened to look very much like Max… Michael… Isabel… and Angie Lee. And below that were smaller pictures of four more individuals. These looked much less identifiable, individually… but seen together, they made Max catch his breath.**

**Michael looked at the book, then the others looked at it.**

**Liz ran her hand carefully over the raised characters and pictures, especially the one that looked like her. She looked up at Angie Lee.**

**"What is this book?"**

**"It's an operational manual of some kind," Angie Lee said. "I figured that much out. But I don't know what it's for."**

**"The granolith?" Michael asked Max. **

**Max nodded. "It must be."**

**"But that looks like me," Liz said, "…and Maria… and Alex… and Kyle. I mean, if I saw just one of those pictures by itself, I'd probably be like, hey, you know, that looks kinda like me… or Maria… or whoever; but all four of us together?"**

**"It's us," Maria said. "But how? How did we get in an alien book?"**

**"The real question," Angie Lee said, "is how did any of us get in an alien book that was written over sixty years ago."**

**"No…" Maria shook her head. "I don't believe that."**

**Angie Lee shrugged. "It's true. Sixty years ago."**

**"May I see the book," Rahn asked politely.**

**Everyone had forgotten that it was Rahn who told them that the other book, the one they found in the cave, was a romance novel. Rahn could read it. Max handed Rahn the book, and Rahn read it carefully page by page. After several minutes, he handed the book back to Angie Lee.**

**"It's an operational manual… for my space craft. I wasn't the pilot. I never saw this book, but that's what it is."**

**"The UFO that they've got in area 51?" Maria asked.**

**Rahn nodded. "I know they have it… I don't know where it is, though."**

**"I do," Maria said. "I saw it."**

**"But what am I doing in this book," Alex asked. "I wasn't on your ship."**

**Rahn sat down and looked at Alex. "The book is more than just an operational manual. It is also a biological manual for the care of the specific cargo that the ship was carrying."**

**"Us," Michael said.**

**Rahn nodded. "Twenty-four small sacs… Sacs that would grow into the pods from which you would one day emerge."**

**"Twenty-four?" Max asked, raising his eyebrows.**

**"Twenty-four. There were six of each of you."**

**"Then… what happened to the other five sets," Isabel asked.**

**Rahn frowned. "The Army took them. I assumed they were all dissected… destroyed… like the fourth sac from your set was."**

**"Our dupes in New York," Michael said. "They must have been one of the sets from those sacs, too, then. Nicholas said that you dumped them in the sewers because they were defective."**

**Rahn shook his head. "That would be ridiculous. Nicholas is fond of such disinformation. But it is not true. I have no idea how they got to New York, but we did not put them there. If they were defective, it was because of how they grew up… without the proper growth care that was outlined in the book."**

**Max shook his head. "But Michael, Isabel, and I didn't get that care, either."**

**"Actually, you did… in the early stages," Rahn explained. "We managed to save your three pods and hide them in the desert. They were cared for by a guardian for a time. All the others were found and taken by the Army."**

**Michael shook his head slowly. "So Max and Isabel and I were the only survivors… that you knew about… but those guys in New York… they must have survived, too, somehow. Who dumped them there… the Army? And what's with Maria and Liz's pictures… and Alex and Kyle's pictures… in this book?"**

**"The instructions in the book said that if you did not receive the programming boosts during your formative and adolescent years… or if your programming failed… you should all be assisted in finding mates that would appeal to you. The pictures show what type of looks would most likely appeal to each one of you if your DNA was not adjusted. It wasn't supposed to be like that, but I guess the ones who engineered you realized that if the programming failed, getting a happy king back would be better than getting an unhappy king who couldn't stand his mate. It's why the programming needed to be reinforced. If it had been, you would have chosen your former queen, and Rath would have chosen his former betrothed… and all of you would have been happy. Unfortunately, that plan was ruined from the start, though, when the pod with your former queen was taken by the Army, Zan."**

**"So the fourth pod… was not Angie Lee?" Michael asked.**

**Rahn shook his head.**

**"But it looks just like her," Isabel said.**

**"I saw the soldiers take the pod containing the queen. It… I saw it…" Rahn's voice trailed off.**

**"Dissected?" Maria asked.  
  
**

**Rahn nodded. "It was destroyed… completely… irrevocably. Only the three of you were saved… out of your set."**

**"But you said that there were originally six sets," Michael said.**

**Rahn nodded. "That's true… but they were all taken by the Army… We could not get close enough to save them without getting caught… as I did…"**

**"You got caught while trying to save the rest of the pods?" Maria asked.**

**Rahn nodded. "I failed. And because of that, the pods were all destroyed… except the three that we were able to hide in time before the Army found us."**

**"Then what about those guys in New York?" Michael asked.**

**Rahn shook his head. "I can't explain them."**

**"And the other pictures in the book?" Michael asked.**

**"Those pictures weren't supposed to be Liz or Maria… or Alex or Kyle… not necessarily…"**

**"Yes they were," Michael said emphatically. "That is Maria!"**

**Rahn smiled. "Maria just looks like the picture. You were bioengineered to fall in love with your original mates, you with Isabel… Max with his former queen… but the fourth pod was destroyed, and then we were unable to continue giving the rest of you the care that was required… The book said that your engineering would fail if you were not given follow-up adjustments at critical points in your development, especially during adolescence. You were not supposed to grow up alone… without guardians to care for you and reinforce your programming."**

**"So then… the queen was supposed to fall in love with someone who looks like that guy who was here the other day…" Angie Lee said… "like Kyle… if she didn't fall in love with the king, I mean?"**

**"She was supposed to fall in love with Zan… Max… the king," Rahn said, but she… her pod… was destroyed, and his programming was never completed. Because of that, they would not have fallen in love with each other even if she had survived. The book says that without the necessary DNA and psychological adjustments in childhood, and especially in adolescence, he would more likely choose a mate who looked something like Liz… and the queen would prefer one who looked something like the one you call Kyle… if she had survived."**

**"The picture really does look like him," Angie Lee said, "and he was awful cute."**

**"Well, he's available," Isabel said. "The queen's pod was destroyed, so… no queen."**

**"Oh," Angie Lee muttered, smiling as she studied the picture that resembled Kyle."**

**"Omigod!" Maria exclaimed.**

**"What?" Isabel asked, turning around quickly.**

**"I just realized… Kyle's my half-brother now."**

**Isabel laughed, then the others began to laugh, too. No one knew it at the time, but that would be the last laugh any of them would share for a while…**

**Suddenly, with no warning, a huge blast knocked everyone to the floor and turned Liz's chair over. Scrambling back to his feet, Michael hurried to check their surroundings, as Max helped Liz back into her chair. The house still appeared to be intact. Whatever had blown them off their feet had not hit the house directly. Max peered out the window carefully, and Michael peered out over his shoulder. Tanks were rolling onto the reservation now in front of the houses. One of them had fired off a round. Behind the tanks, a vast army of humvees, Bradley fighting vehicles, and heavily-armed soldiers was pouring out of the hills and onto the reservation.**

**Outside the house, not far away, a shocked news crew stood dumbfounded, watching and filming the incursion…**

**"You have just seen it here on KUVA, the only station on the scene," the newsgirl, Diane Casey, screamed, almost losing her voice in the emotional moment. "The Army has just rolled a battalion of tanks onto the Mesaliko Reservation, and shots HAVE BEEN fired! The Army is firing on Indian homes! We do not yet know the reasons for this incursion, but it cannot be worth the lives of all these innocent people. So far, we have seen none of the Mesaliko at all. Apparently, they are staying in their homes… which now that I think about it, is probably a very intelligent idea. These homes will be no match for tanks, though, if the Army decides to blow them apart or simply drive over them. The Indians here have no defense against this attack, which appears to this observer to be utterly unprovoked. **

**As Diane spoke, another salvo was fired from the turret of one of the nearer tanks, and this time, it was a direct hit… with devastating results. The targeted home exploded in a hellacious fireball from which no one could have escaped or survived. Timbers and splinters of timbers flew hundreds of feet into the sky, raining down in a fiery holocaust all over the reservation. Diane almost couldn't find her voice, as she described what she was seeing for the viewers, peppering her comments with a few words that might have been bleeped if the censor at the station had not himself been so absorbed in what was happening that he missed the words altogether.**

**Moments after the first home was destroyed, a second home went up in flames in another fiery holocaust of flying timbers and splinters. Max and Michael watched out the corner of their window, unable to even speak owing to their inability to believe what was happening. But their period of inaction was brief. Michael rushed to look around the house for a place… any place… where they might be safe from such an attack. There was none.**

**"We have to leave here NOW," Michael said emphatically, leaving no room at all for dissent. "We leave now… or we get blown up."**

**No one spoke. At the moment, every face in the house was whiter than Gray Hawk's feather. And Gray Hawk was still nowhere to be found, having never returned to the house after leaving at 5 A.M. It occurred to Max that Gray Hawk might have been captured… or even killed… trying to return to his home to protect it… and them.**

**Max suddenly seemed to take over. "Everyone out the back. Stay together… but not too close together. Run for the river. If we can make it to the river unseen, we may have a chance."**

**"What about the Mesaliko people?" Liz asked. "They'll be slaughtered, Max. We can't just let them die."**

**"If we don't run," Isabel said, the frustration obvious in her voice, "we'll die, too. We can't help them. I want to… I just don't know how we can, Liz!"**

**"Well, we have to do something," Alex said. "This is happening to them because of us."  
  
**

**Max nodded somberly. "We can't help them by getting killed ourselves. We have to escape and then figure out how to fight back to save them."**

**Michael nodded his agreement, but clearly nobody there was happy with this option, though it was the only reasonable option available to them.**

**"Is everyone ready to run," Max asked. "Where's Rahn?"**

**Everyone looked around. Rahn did not seem to be there.**

**"The back door…" Liz said, pointing. "It's cracked."**

**"He wouldn't have abandoned us," Maria insisted. "Not Rahn."**

**"Well, he did," Michael said flatly. "He flew away… saved himself. He's not here."**

**"I just can't believe Rahn would do that," Maria said again. "Rahn's no coward…"**

**Angie Lee started to agree with Maria, but as they stood there, another house suddenly exploded in an inferno of fire and flying wood. The friends watched from the back door of Gray Hawk's house as the fiery splinters fell everywhere around them.**

**"Let's go! Now! All together! While there's a distraction!" Max yelled. Max threw open the back door, and everyone ran out, cutting around the far side of the house then running in the direction of the river. They crossed the small road quickly and ran along the path towards the river, staying behind the trees as much as possible. Max was carrying Liz in his arms. As they reached the river, everyone came together again.**

**"Where do we go now, Max?" Isabel asked.**

**"Is there anyone who can't swim?" Max asked.**

**No one replied.**

**"Good. Then we all go into the river. The current will carry us downstream… and out of the reservation."**

**Max pulled his shoes off, but as he prepared to jump into the river, a boat appeared around the bend. Max hesitated and backed up into the trees again. They watched as the boat approached. It was a small boat with an outboard motor, and there appeared to be only one person in it. The boat pulled up to the shore where Max and the others had been, and a pudgy little man got out and lumbered onto the shore. Liz caught her breath.**

**"Judge Lewis! What's he doing here?"**

**"I'm telling you," Maria whispered. "He had to have tipped them off somehow. He had to have found out we were here and told the FBI or the Army. That's the only answer. He's probably coming to enjoy the show."**

**Alex stepped further back under the trees, and as he did, he stepped on an unbalanced rock. The rock tilted, sending him to the ground. Judge Lewis immediately looked in their direction. Spotting them, he jumped into his boat and shoved it back into the water as quickly as he could. Alex ran down the bank and leapt into the water in an effort to catch the boat, but it was too late. Judge Lewis pulled out an air horn and began blaring it.**

**"He was looking for us," Michael said, realizing the truth. "He was cruising around out there just to see if he could catch us trying to escape in the river. He's signaling them where we are."**

**"Alex!" Max yelled. "Get out of the water! We've got to run!"**

**"Just get out of the way," Michael yelled. Alex did.**

**Michael raised his hand, and a fireball hit the small boat, sending it up in flames and sinking it immediately. Judge Lewis fell through the bottom of his sinking boat into the water, a fact that turned out to be fortunate for him in the end, since it extinguished his burning clothes before he suffered any injury. He was, however, now at the mercy of the river and the current, which quickly swept him away downstream. **

**"Do you think he can swim," Maria asked.**

**"Do I care," Michael asked. "I hope he can't." **

**No one was quite sure if Michael meant that or not… but more interestingly, every one of them realized that they had thought it at the same time, and it was an oddly uncomfortable feeling.**

**"Okay," Max said. "Stay in the trees. We'll make our way along the shore staying inside the woods."**

**Max picked Liz back up, and they started to move. They had gone about a hundred yards when the first helicopter appeared over the river, headed in their direction. Then they noticed two more helicopters… then several more. They were Cobras, each one armed with an impressive battery of missiles and machine guns.**

**"Get down!" Michael screamed. "Everyone lie low! Get out of sight!"**

**Everyone hit the ground, sliding into the underbrush as best they could behind the trees, as the helicopters approached from over the water. Slowly, the helicopters combed the banks and nearby wooded areas, looking for their targets. No one on the ground dared to even breathe, as the helicopters flew over… then flew back over again, missing the hiding subjects who were well concealed beneath the brush. They did find a floundering, half-drowned Judge Lewis about a half mile downstream, however, hanging onto a tiny splinter of wood that might have been from one of the homes on the reservation or from his boat; and after a short debate, they dropped him a life jacket. Then the helicopters all turned and headed in the direction of the reservation homes.**

**As the chop chop chop of the helicopter blades grew faint in the distance, Max finally rolled over and looked, brushing off the leaves and small branches, some of which had been thrown over them by the backwash of the helicopters' blades. Nearby, others began to emerge from beneath the brush, also.**

**"Max," Liz said imploringly. "They'll slaughter the Mesalikos. There won't be anyone left alive there. We have to help them."**

**Max swallowed… then nodded.**

**Michael looked at Max and pressed his lips together. But he didn't argue. Everyone knew what that meant. They were going back. **

**As the small group of friends reached the edge of the wooded area, they saw the Cobras circling overhead. On the ground, the homes of the Mesalikos were surrounded by tanks. At least five of the homes had been destroyed… possibly more. Max doubted that anyone inside any of them had had any chance at all to escape or survive. It made him sick to his stomach. A quick look at Michael told him that Michael felt the same way. There was no need to even wonder what Liz was thinking… or Angie Lee, who had grown up here on this reservation, protected by the Mesaliko people.**

**"I say we blast every one of those helicopters out of the sky," Michael said. "Then we deal with the tanks and those special agent guys that started this."**

**Max clearly didn't like this idea, but he didn't see any other alternative. It was them or a lot of innocent Mesalikos. Max nodded, and he and Michael both held their hands up in the direction of one of the helicopters that was, at that moment, taking aim on another home with a missile. Two powerful jolts sent the Cobra spinning, it's tail almost separated from its body. As soon as it happened, the other Cobras all turned toward Max and Michael. **

**Max kissed Liz, then Michael and Maria sealed their good-byes with a kiss, then they sent Liz and Maria, who went unwillingly, with Alex, Isabel, and Angie Lee back into the woods. They knew that they could take out some more of the attackers, but they also knew that they would never get them all. Both Max and Michael let go with another jolt of power, and two more Cobras ploughed into the ground, their rotors blasted off. It seemed, though, that twenty more Cobras were just as suddenly there to replace the three downed ones. What had been like swatting at a few bees had become a full-scale attack by the whole hive. Max and Michael raised their hands again and prepared for their final stand. But as they did, the helicopters suddenly veered off and flew away.**

**"What happened?" Michael asked. "They had us."**

**"I don't know," Max said, shaking his head. "Do you hear something?"**

**Both of them listened and looked around. Other than for the crackle of the burning homes, nothing seemed to be happening. Even the tanks had turned around and were facing away from the homes now; they appeared to be aiming back out at the hills.**

**"Maybe they're leaving," Michael said optimistically.**

**"I don't think so," Max said. "They're expecting something… from the other side of those hills."**

**Max and Michael watched. Moments later, the cause of the about face became evident, as several pickup trucks and an SUV rolled over the hills in the distance. The tanks all aimed their turrets at the advancing vehicles, but a moment later, an entire army of off-road-capable vehicles began rolling over the hills. The helicopters were returning now to their original positions over the Indian homes, but they remained facing the small oncoming army, which seemed to be rapidly growing larger and larger.**

**Max looked at Michael, and Michael shrugged.**

**One of the Cobras fired a missile, striking one of the advancing pickups, but as the smoke cleared, they saw that the pickup had not been destroyed… in fact, it seemed to just keep coming. Two tanks then fired at the same time, scoring direct hits on two more pickups, and these, too, continued to advance, apparently unharmed. At this point, the Cobra pilots in particular seemed to become unnerved, firing barrages of missiles, all of which exploded on their targets… which merely continued to advance as though they were immune to missiles and tank barrages.**

**"What's going on here," Michael asked.**

**Max looked back into the woods. He could see Isabel, Alex, Maria, and Liz from where he was, but at first he didn't see Angie Lee. Then he spotted her. She was leaning on a tree, and she seemed to be deep in concentration. Max smiled.**

**"We've got a little help." Max pointed at Angie Lee.**

**Michael nodded and smiled, too, then he looked back at the oncoming vehicles.**

**"But what happens when they get here and they see they're not real, Max?"**

**"I don't know," Max said. "But she's giving us some time. Let's take advantage of it."**

**Max and Michael fired two power surges at one of the more aggressive tanks, blowing its treads off and bending its turret into a right angle. Without waiting for the other tanks to recover, they took aim at another tank, with similar results. By this time, several of the Cobra helicopters had turned back around to face Max and Michael, but what the Cobra pilots saw were several dozen Maxes and Michaels. Two of the Cobras fired, scoring direct hits on two of the Maxes. But like the pickup trucks coming over the hill, the Maxes hit by the missiles were unhurt.**

**"They missed?" Michael said, dumbfounded. He looked over at Max and suddenly saw all the other Maxes. Looking to the other side, he then saw his own doubles. Michael smiled and saluted, and several of his doubles smiled back and returned the gesture.**

**"Cool! Now let's just hope they don't accidentally hit the real us, Max," Michael said. "Somehow I don't think we're as durable as our doubles out there seem to be."**

**The word seemed to be getting around among the tank commanders and Cobra pilots that their attackers might only be smokescreens meant to distract them from their mission. However, there was the eerie problem of the tanks with bent turrets and the treads blown off. The commander decided that this could have been done remotely by "alien powers unknown and persons not immediately present, probably someone who was still inside one of the homes," and he ordered the pilots and tanks to concentrate on the homes again and ignore the apparitions. This was a mistake.**

**The pickup trucks, other vehicles, and SUV charged onto the reservation en masse in a scene that must have looked like Custer's last stand, and Max and Michael could now see that each vehicle was packed with Mesaliko Indians. Apparently, not all of the vehicles had been merely apparitions. The intent of the "invaders" quickly became obvious, as everything from rifles to bows and arrows, spears, and rocks rained down on the tanks, causing some damage, but not significantly. It did, however, distract the tanks and Cobras from the homes once more, and they turned once again to fire at the oncoming vehicles. **

**There was a problem now, however. Previously, the Mesaliko vehicles had been far away, and it had been a simple matter to fire on them. But now they were all over the place in among the tanks. Any shot fired by a tank would very likely take out another tank beside it, even if it also destroyed the Mesalikos' vehicle. **

**The tanks spun their turrets around and around continuously but futilely, following the circling Mesaliko vehicles but never able to fire on them. The Cobra pilots, too, were frustrated, finding their hands tied as long as the Mesalikos had their vehicles in among the tanks. The damage being done to the tanks by the Mesalikos was minimal, but with each new pass, it added up. After a short time, several of the tanks had been disabled, mostly due to having their treads damaged or jammed or their turrets jammed. In one spectacular instance, a Mesaliko managed to throw a well-aimed bottle of Jack Daniels with a lighted rag stuck in it down the barrel of a tank turret, and the resulting explosion split the barrel apart like an opening rose bud. **

**The SUV pulled up alongside Max and Michael, and the window rolled down.**

**"Could you guys use a ride?"**

**"Sheriff? …Kyle? What the…" Max looked inside and noticed that Amy was there, too, as well as two or three Mesalikos. One of them was Gray Hawk.**

**Max motioned for Alex and the others to come, and he ran to get Liz himself, setting her in the vehicle beside Amy. Maria jumped in on the other side of Amy and put her arms around her mother.**

**"You always did know when it was time for me to come home, Mom."**

**Amy smiled and kissed Maria, nodding… "And don't you forget it!"**

**Max turned to Gray Hawk. "We thought you had been captured or killed trying to get back to your house."**

**"Mmm… I would have been… maybe," Gray Hawk said. "But Kyle found me and warned me. Together, we warned some of the other Mesalikos in town, and they warned their families and others on the reservation. So everyone was able to escape before the trouble started… except you. I am sorry that you were not warned. They did not know that you were in my home. I wanted to come back, but I was unable to get in… so Kyle suggested this instead."**

**"Kyle suggested an attack on army tanks?"**

**Kyle smiled slightly and slid down a bit in his seat.**

**Max laughed. "Kyle! What about Buddha?" **

**Everyone laughed. **

**"It's okay, Kyle," Michael said, "We won't tell."**

**"Gray Hawk!" Kyle said sheepishly, "Next time you're spreading that peyote dust around so the ancestors won't see…"**

**"Shhhhh…" Gray Hawk put one finger to his lips.**

**"Save a little for me, too, okay? I think I'm going to need it… with these two loud mouths around."**

**Max and Michael both snickered.**

**Jim turned the SUV around and headed back towards the gate, just outside of which the Evanses and Whitmans were still waiting, having been convinced by Jim that it would be dangerous for everyone involved if they came in, too, at this time. However, the SUV didn't make it far. As they started for the road to the gate, a missile from one of the Cobras exploded about thirty feet in front of them. Fortunately, the Cobra had not scored a direct hit, but even so, the resulting damage to the vehicle was catastrophic. The hood was peeled back, and a number of engine components were heat fused together. The SUV was clearly at the end of its road. **

**The Mesalikos, including Gray Hawk, jumped out and immediately began to fire on the Cobra with their old rifles. The Cobra, in turn, opened fire with its machine guns, strafing Gray Hawk and one of the other Mesalikos across the chest with machine gun fire. Both men fell to the ground, fatally wounded. Max and Michael jumped out of the vehicle on opposite sides, and two power bolts surged from their hands in the direction of the Cobra. It was a good hit. The rotor blades peeled upward, and the tail broke off. The helicopter hit the ground hard, knocking both the pilot and his gunner unconscious.**

**Max rushed to Gray Hawk. He wasn't breathing. Max quickly stripped off Gray Hawk's shirt and held one hand over his chest. A greenish glow appeared under Max's hand, and slowly, the bullet wounds in Gray Hawk's chest began to disappear. Gray Hawk opened his eyes. Max then moved to the other wounded Mesaliko and took care of his wounds the same way.**

**Not far away, the news truck was still filming. It had recorded the missile strike that had disabled the SUV, and now it was recording a moving, human moment, as Max bent over the second Mesaliko…**

**"Move in closer… closer…" Diane implored the cameraman. "Focus on his hands. A little closer… That's it! Yes! Yes! That's it… Omigod!" **

**There was a pause, as Diane caught her breath and watched. **

**"They're… His wounds are disappearing. He's healing him. That man was dead… or at the very edge of death… and now he's… He's getting back up again… Does anyone have any idea at all what this could mean… for all of us… for the world?" Diane turned and faced the camera, her voice shaking with emotion, yet in spite of this, still appearing every bit the consummate professional. "People, I'm telling you, you can live your lives with your heads stuck in the ground… and die like that… or you can open your minds to the real possibilities of a much, much brighter world for all of us. But we'll never see it if the idiots attacking this reservation today… and whoever is leading them… have their way. Do something… whatever you can do. Call your Congressman. Call your Representatives. Flood Washington with emails and faxes. But do it now! Insist on change that will end this stupid, stupid paranoia… before it is all too late. I beg you! There is so much that we can learn from these people… whoever they are… You could be the ones who will decide whether or not we ever get that chance. Call now! Don't wait another minute! Make sure your Congressman or Congresswoman is watching this. There may never be such an opportunity in our lifetimes again. Don't let it slip away. Insist on an immediate stop to the terrible travesty that you're seeing here today."**

**As Diane implored her viewers to act, Max and Michael were searching for any possible way for the passengers of the SUV and himself to escape now that they once again had no transportation and were faced with imminent attack from the Cobras. It appeared to be the end of the road. There were at least thirty Cobras in the area now, and every one of them was paying total attention to Max and his small group. Max thought briefly of knocking out a few more. He and Michael could have done it. But the end result would have been all too predictable. Everyone in the SUV… including Liz… would have died. That was totally unalterable.**

**Max made his decision. "It's us they want, Michael. I'm giving myself up. Maybe I can save Liz and the others."**

**"Max, No!" Liz yelled, but Max knew what he had to do. Michael put his hand down, and the glow in his palm subsided slowly. He walked over beside Max. "We're in this together, Max… to the end."**

**Both of them put their hands over their heads and walked out into the open, as far away from the vehicle as possible, to draw the attention of the Cobra pilots away from the others. It was mere moments before a team of commandoes was on the scene. They pushed Max and Michael to the ground and, with a booted foot on each one of their backs, tied and handcuffed them. It wouldn't have mattered. Had they wanted to, Max and Michael could have made short work of these commandoes, even tied up as they were… but then everyone would have died. They could not avoid all the missiles of thirty Cobra helicopters. This was the only way. **

**Max knew what would become of him and Michael. He felt a lot of regret for Michael, but Michael had made the choice to join him. Max just hoped that now that they had him and Michael, maybe… maybe… they would lose interest in Liz and the others. He might have been too optimistic. But the question never had to be answered, because once again, the helicopters all mysteriously turned away and flew off toward the hills. The leader of the commandoes spent a few moments on his walkie talkie with someone, then all but two of the commandoes hastily jumped back into their humvees and left without any explanation.**

**Michael looked over at Max, as they lay there on the ground, still tied up and now guarded by only two young commandoes and no helicopters. **

**"I'm starting to get a rejection complex, Max," Michael said, as he spit dirt out of his mouth and tried to wipe the sweat off his brow with his shoulder. "I wonder what's giving them all wedgies now?"**

**"I couldn't even guess," Max said, turning his head wearily back toward Michael and spitting out the dirt that had accumulated in his own mouth when his face had been stomped into the ground. "And I was just starting to look forward to a vacation at Club Med 51." Max chuckled a bit at his own sarcasm, then he touched a small wound at the edge of his forehead, healing it and stopping the bleeding. "Something must have scared them more than us. That's all I can think."**

**"Got to be," Michael agreed, eyeing the two young commandoes, who seemed to be paying much too much attention to something unseen just over the hill and not enough to their prisoners. The young commandoes realized their mistake too late; before they knew what had happened, Michael and Max had the ropes and handcuffs off of themselves and on the commandoes, who found themselves lying on the ground on their stomachs at the mercy of their former "prisoners."**

**Jim and Amy, together with Kyle and Gray Hawk, were quickly at Max and Michael's side and worked feverishly to help them tie up their former guards. They did a very thorough job. Unlike Max and Michael, it appeared almost certain that the commandos would not be escaping on their own. Unguarded now, and with no other commandoes or helicopters in sight, Max and Michael gathered everyone together and began a fast-paced hike in the direction of the reservation entrance, with Max carrying Liz in his arms.**

**But as they reached the old dirt road that led out of the Reservation, a spray of machinegun fire crisscrossed the path in front of them, and, suddenly, they were surrounded by a group of heavily armed soldiers who had been hiding in the brush on either side of the road. The soldiers had been placed there to prevent any more vehicles, especially ones of the news variety, from getting onto the Reservation while the "operation" was in progress. Max looked at the soldiers around him cautiously then at Michael. Both of them realized immediately that if they defended themselves, someone with them was going to die. Max still had Liz in his arms, and twenty AK-47's were aimed at both of their hearts. Max swallowed and stood there. Michael's hands were literally glowing with a low energy, but he didn't raise them or allow it to show. Instead, he looked at Max for advice, something he was not accustomed to doing. Max breathed deeply. There was nothing to be said… at the moment. If these guys were as careless as the two who had been guarding them before, they might have a chance to escape… later. Max only hoped that that would be the case.**

**One of the soldiers was already on his walkie talkie, and within minutes, a Humvee drove up with two special agents and three more armed soldiers in it. Max and Michael both recognized the agents in the Humvee. They didn't know their names, but they had seen them both with Judge Lewis.**

**"Well, well, well, well, well…" the agent in the front seat, who was obviously in charge, said, stepping out of the Humvee and keeping his eyes glued on Max and Michael in particular in case either one decided to do something rash.**

**"You two have given me quite a lot of grief." He looked at Isabel then at Maria. "You two have, too. I guess you're looking forward to going back to your old quarters in Area 51."**

**"Not really," Isabel said, defiantly. "To tell you the truth, the guest amenities sucked."**

**"Aw… now what kind of gratitude is that, Miss Isabel Evans," Culpepper quipped. "Free room and board at government expense… free medical care…"**

**Isabel snorted. "Medical care? We'd have been dead because of you before anything else…"**

**"That's no way to talk to your former benefactors, Miss Evans."**

**"I'll pass on your beneficence, thank you," Isabel said. "And you can keep your little time share apartment in Area 51.**

**"Me, too… I pass, too," Maria said, agreeing with Isabel.**

**Michael looked at Max then shrugged at the agent. "Hey, I guess it's unanimous. Sorry, man. Better luck selling it to the next group."**

**Culpepper smiled sullenly, but behind the smile he seemed to seethe with a deep and angry resentment.**

**"Well, actually, guys, that's alright. You see… 'cause none of you are going to be going back."**

**Max and Michael looked at each other. Both of them recognized the ominous nature of that statement. Culpepper was not likely to have had a religious conversion overnight and decided to be a nice guy and release them. If he said they would not be going back…**

**"You can't just shoot us out here," Alex said, obviously understanding, too. "There's a news crew filming this… and airing it live… right down the road there."**

**Culpepper looked at the news team down the road. They were indeed filming what was going on as they spoke. He smiled.**

**"Haven't you even wondered why I haven't kicked that news crew off the Reservation yet? Hasn't anyone wondered? You think I'm just letting this go out over the air?" Culpepper laughed. "You're more stupid than I thought. Nothing they're filming is going anywhere. We've been blocking their signal since the very beginning. Trust me. No one knows. No one is going to know."**

**"They know," Isabel said, indicating the news team.**

**"And who'll believe them?" Culpepper smirked. "This was all just an unfortunate training accident. Some guy punched the wrong coordinates into his GPS device. Besides, I haven't decided yet whether that crew is going to be a co-statistic or not. Accidents happen, Miss Evans, when you're not where you should be."**

**Isabel swallowed.**

**"Don't worry, Miss Isabel, I'm not going to shoot you… as enjoyable as that prospect might be to me. You're all going to be one of the unfortunate statistics I was referring to."**

**"What do you mean," Maria asked.**

**"He means we're going to appear to have been killed accidentally," Jim said, watching Culpepper carefully for any opportunity to change their situation. At the moment, that was clearly impossible.**

**"Very good," Culpepper said with a touch of sarcasm in his voice. "All of you are going back to where you were hiding before. Then the house is going to be hit by an errant missile."**

**"Maybe we weren't ever in one of these houses," Alex said.**

**"Does it matter?" Culpepper asked. He motioned to the soldiers, and they started to grab each of the friends by the arms. As they did, several of the soldiers looked past Culpepper, gasped, and jumped back. Culpepper turned around to see what had startled his soldiers. Behind him stood a small army of about fifty soldiers with their weapons aimed at him and his squadron. Culpepper stared at the new soldiers for several moments. Neither side spoke. Then Culpepper turned back around and looked at the group of friends. Angie Lee had her eyes closed and appeared to be concentrating. Culpepper took out a pistol, aimed it, and fired one shot. Angie Lee fell, and the new soldiers all vanished. As Angie Lee went down, Gray Hawk let out a howl more like that of an animal in pain than a human.**

**"Problem solved," Culpepper said coldly to his own soldiers. "Now take them to one of the houses… I don't care which house… tie them up, and lock them in. Make sure they can't get out."**

**Maria broke away and ran to Angie Lee, who lay on the ground bleeding from the center of her chest. As she held Angie Lee's head in her arms, Angie Lee closed her eyes and stopped breathing.**

**"Bastard!" Isabel said, spitting the word out venomously. "I hope you die a terrible death."**

**"You won't live to see it, Miss Evans. She should have given her soldiers the proper operational pins on their lapels. She gave them the same pins my soldiers have… and I knew they weren't my soldiers."**

**"You're inhuman," Isabel said. "Were you born without a conscience or did you work on it all your life?"**

**"Let's just say I've perfected it, Miss Evans."**

**Isabel nodded. "That's the first thing you've said that I have absolutely no argument with."**

**Several soldiers kept their AK-47's aimed at Max and Michael's hearts… and at Liz, who was still in Max's arms… as the others attempted to restrain the rest of the group. They seemed to realize that the greatest danger to them would come from Max and Michael, and they took great care to prevent any effort Max or Michael might make to defend themselves or the group. But the attempts to restrain the others did not turn out to be a piece of cake either. Jim flattened the first one that came close to him, and Gray Hawk, for all his seventy plus years, sent another one flying backwards against a rock, knocking him out. The two younger Mesalikos with them fought bravely, but several bullets fired into their legs stopped their struggling. The soldiers rolled them over and handcuffed them. Gray Hawk knocked out two more soldiers before he, too, was shot in the leg. But even down on the ground, he continued to fight, almost tearing off the leg of one soldier who got too near him before he was completely restrained. After Angie Lee was shot, Gray Hawk seemed to lose whatever self-control he had once had. He fought as though it were the end of the world and he had nothing left to lose. Kyle and Alex both managed to cause some serious damage to those who were attempting to restrain them, and Amy probably would have escaped or been shot if she hadn't eventually reluctantly given herself up in the hopes of preventing more harm to the others. None of the soldiers really wanted to take her on after they saw what happened to the first one. In the end, the battered soldiers did manage to restrain everyone, with their AK-47's, and the prisoners were loaded into waiting Humvees and driven to one of the empty Mesaliko homes.**

**"What do you want us to do with her," one of the soldiers asked, motioning toward Angie Lee's body, which still lay on the side of the road. Culpepper looked at it and thought for a moment.**

**"Leave it there. She got shot. Accidents happen. She got caught in the middle of a training operation."**

**"What about the news crew," the second agent asked.**

**Culpepper winced slightly then nodded. "They could be a problem. Round them up. Put them in the house with the others. They were getting their last interview when the house got blown up."**

**The second agent grinned.**

**"Get one of the Cobras back over here," Culpepper said to the commander of his group of soldiers. "Tell them we have one more house to blow up."**

**"I think all the Cobras were called away," the commander said. **

**"I know that," Culpepper said dryly. "But we're taking care of that other matter already… the fighter jets are on it. Call one of the Cobras back here. Take care of our little matter now. One less Cobra over there isn't going to matter."**

**"Yes, sir." **

**                                          ************

**Twenty-eight miles away, two squadrons of fighter jets, hastily scrambled from the base minutes before, were headed in the direction of the Mesaliko Reservation. The reservation, however, was not their target. The fighter pilots had a beautiful day to fly. The day was warm and clear, and the sky was blue, with only a few wispy white clouds, except for the smoke from the burning Mesaliko homes in the distance. Visibility was optimal, especially up in the sky. The pilots scanned the horizon and checked their radars…**

**"I've got him!" one of the pilots yelled excitedly. "He's due south… turning now a bit to the east."**

**"Roger that, Blackbird," a second pilot shouted. "I see him, too. Let's go get him!"**

**Several miles ahead of the fighter jets, Rahn turned his spacecraft in the direction of the Reservation. Rahn's craft was not armed, but numerous systems onboard could be used as weapons by a resourceful alien… and Rahn was nothing if he was not resourceful.**

**After Maria told Rahn where she had seen his spaceship, he had sneaked out of the house. No one had paid any attention to the tiny bird flying over the base… in fact, no one had even noticed as it flew into the tunnels or as it perched under the ship. They certainly paid a lot of attention, though, when the ship suddenly came to life and began to rise then emitted a magnetic shock wave that shattered the ceiling of the tunnel, allowing it to escape into the bright blue sky above. Alarms had gone off all over the base, phone calls had been hastily made, the Cobras had been recalled, and the tanks –those that could still move after the Mesalikos' attack- had been ordered repositioned in the hills. Every effort was now on recapturing or destroying the escaped ship. The "alien suspects" at the Reservation were all but forgotten for the moment except by Culpepper and his group.**

**From his altitude, Rahn could now make out the Reservation up ahead. He had skirted around the hills, successfully avoiding all the tanks. The helicopters had been ordered to allow the jets to go ahead of them, which made sense, since the jets were considerably faster. The helicopters were to form a second wave of attack. Rahn's ship was considerably faster than either the fighter jets or the helicopters, but he would not be able to take advantage of that speed if he stopped to help his friends at the Reservation… and that was his intent.**

**"Gaining on target now," the first jet pilot said. "He's slowing down. Twenty seconds… eighteen… fifteen… ten… eight… five… two… one…" Two missiles streaked into the blue sky headed toward the spaceship. At the last moment, Rahn turned his ship up on its side, and the missiles streaked by on either side of the ship, missing it by a scant few feet. Rahn flipped the ship back level again and reversed its direction suddenly, a maneuver that would have been impossible for a jet or even a helicopter. It took the jet pilots by surprise, and they streaked by the spaceship right behind their missiles. By the time the jet fighters came about, the spaceship was nowhere to be seen. Rahn had taken it straight up about a thousand feet, just out of their range of vision. For several minutes, no one knew what had become of the craft. Then a pilot from Delta Squadron spotted it just above the wispy white clouds.**

**"Uh, Alpha Squadron… target is in sight. Suggest you look up."**

**"Who is that?" Blackbird asked.**

**"Condor here. I'm three hundred meters above you, Blackbird… with Delta Squadron behind me. Target is in sight. I'm on him."**

**The pilot locked onto the ship, then two more missiles streaked through the clouds. Rahn was still watching the jets below him and had not yet noticed the higher-flying squadron above. He noticed it just in time to flip his ship on its side again. The first missile flew by the belly of the ship, missing it by about two feet. The second missile cleared the top of the ship by mere inches.**

**"What does that guy have… eyes in the back of his head," Condor mused… in a decidedly unamused tone.**

**Rahn leveled his ship off again and dropped a thousand feet straight down.**

**"Where did he go?" Condor asked. "Do you see him now, Blackbird?"**

**"No," Blackbird responded. "I'm behind you now. I think he's down on the deck again. He's toying with us."**

**"He's good," Condor said. "I'll give him that. Why do you think he's hanging around? He could be gone in that thing in the wink of an eye."**

**"Maybe he wants to rescue his friends down there," Blackbird said.**

**"On the Reservation?"**

**"Yeah. He's got a crew down there or something."**

**There was silence for several moments.**

**"I think we need to position him where we want him, Blackbird… stop letting him lead us."**

**"What you got in mind?"**

**"I'm going to fire a missile into one of those houses down there… You think that'll get his attention?"**

**Blackbird smiled. "I'll be there to take him out."**

**"Roger that, Blackbird. You read my mind. I'm heading down."**

**Condor rolled his plane over and streaked toward the Reservation with the rest of Delta squadron following close behind him. Meanwhile, Blackbird, with Alpha Squadron, circled around to take Rahn by surprise when he came down to defend the Reservation and his friends.**

**A missile streaked from Condor's jet, and one of the remaining Mesaliko homes went up in a brilliant fireball of splinters and flames. Rahn could not help but notice. He quickly rolled his ship onto its side and dropped down to the level of the attacking planes. Blackbird came up behind Rahn and locked a missile onto the spacecraft, but Rahn was expecting him. A sudden surge of anti-gravity from the spaceship caught the missile and its sender in its field, and both the missile and the plane flamed out. The missile fell to the ground and exploded in the desert outside the reservation, and Blackbird bailed out of his disabled plane just before it crashed, as Condor watched, swearing under his breath.**

**Before Condor realized what had happened, Rahn had disappeared again and reappeared behind him. Condor realized it too late. A brief burst of anti-gravity disabled Condor's fighter jet, and another parachute floated down, as another jet dove into the ground.**

**Beneath this dogfight, a lone Cobra helicopter approached the Mesaliko Reservation. The pilot was in communication with Agent Culpepper as he approached.**

**"Which house is it? I just saw one go up. Was that the one?"**

**"Negative, Cobra Nine. It's the one just to the east… next door to the one the jet just blew up… I want this one to go up big… very big… understand?"**

**"Big is my specialty, sir. The day I can't put on a better show than one of those jet boys… Hey, you can count on me!"**

**"I am," Culpepper said, hanging up the mike and smiling. "Believe me, I am."**

**The Cobra leveled off and took aim at the house that Max and the others were in, arming four of its missiles for maximum effect. Rahn, meanwhile, was taking his ship back up higher, passing through several layers of wispy, white clouds. As he emerged above the clouds, something that he had not seen coming struck his ship hard, sending it into an uncontrollable spin. It began to tumble… then to fall apart. The number two pilot of Delta Squadron, hanging out above the clouds, had got a lucky break.**

**"I got him! I got him! Wingman One here! I got him! Look at that son of a bitch tumble end over end! He's going down hard! …Geez! That saucer's gotta be two hundred feet across. I wouldn't want to be under that thing when it hits the ground! It's gonna make one hell of an explosion and bonfire!"**

**"I see him!" another pilot yelled excitedly. "He's falling past us now! His ship's disintegrating… Half of it's gone already! It's on fire!"**

**"Woo hoo! Look at him go down," a third pilot yelled, joining in the excitement. But just as suddenly as it had started, the merriment ended. There was a brief moment of silence. Then Wingman One came back…**

**"What happened? He stopped falling. He's leveling off again. The fire's gone out."**

**"I see it," the second pilot, who was at the lower altitude, said, "but I don't believe it. There's no way that thing could fly. Half of it's gone! It's not airworthy… even for a damned UFO!"**

**"Well, it's doing it," Wingman One said. "He's rising again." There was a brief pause. "Uh, was the sky supposed to get overcast today, Delta Three?"**

**"No," the second pilot responded. "S'posed to be sunny and clear all day."**

**"Well, it's getting damned dark up here. Either the sky's getting overcast or we're havin' a frikkin' unreported eclipse… som… bu… s…"**

**Wingman One's communications began to break up.**

**"What's going on up there, Wingman One?" **

**"Sssss… Big… Oh, ssss crap…" Wingman One's radio went to static.**

**The last thing Delta Three was able to make out in Wingman One's communication before it broke off completely was, "My God!"**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: Just Dropping in **

**(To See What Condition Your Condition Was In)**


	28. Dreams27

The Night The Dreams Died 

**And Then There Is Bigger**

**Chapter 27**

**XXVII******

**"Wingman One! Wingman One! What's going on up there? Come in, Wingman One. Delta Three… Over." The pilot of the lower flying fighter jet, flying at an altitude of just under 1,000 feet, looked out his windshield, scanning the sky above for any sign of the missing pilot, but the only thing he saw was an increasingly darkening sky. Although he had no idea whether Wingman One was actually hearing him now or not, he continued to talk as though he could. "Uh… It looks like you were right, Wingman One. I'm starting to see that darkening sky you were talking about down here now, too. Guess the weather guys got it wrong when they said sunny and clear all day today, huh? Imagine that!"**

**There was no answer on the radio… only static.**

**Much higher up, at an altitude of 32,000 feet, Wingman One was having his own problems. His communications had gone totally to static. On top of that, he was flying directly beneath a descending dark cloud that looked increasingly un-cloudlike the lower it came. He had been too totally absorbed with watching the falling space ship after he shot it down, and he had no idea where this huge cloud had come from so suddenly.**

**Wingman One watched as the spacecraft he thought he had shot down rose back up through the wispy white clouds below him. Not one to give up easily, he armed another missile. Lining up the already half-destroyed craft in his cross-hairs, he flipped the switch that would fire missile number two. Nothing happened. Wingman One flipped the switch several more times. Still nothing. The missile systems were dead… just like his radio… and his compass… and most of his other systems. Only the radar and his engines still seemed to be functioning.**

**Wingman One watched, with a feeling of helplessness, as the spacecraft continued to rise upward and upward, approaching the darkening cloud mass above. What happened next, Wingman One was totally unprepared for. The bottom of the dark cloud opened up. There was light inside, and the damaged spacecraft was pulled inside with the light.**

**For a moment, Wingman One's mouth hung open inside his helmet, as the truth dawned on him. It was no cloud that was descending on him… It was a ship… an unbelievably huge ship… a mothership… probably come to rescue the smaller craft and its people… from him. Wingman One looked around the sky. The huge ship between him and the sun seemed to extend on and on. The jet's radar registered a solid mass extending for some 4,000 meters -over two miles- in front of him. Wingman One wondered how much of the craft extended behind his jet. A quick check gave him his answer. One thousand meters… plus a few… almost a mile. The object coming down directly on top of him was approximately three miles across… and very solid! **

**Wingman One rolled over and dived, taking his jet streaking downward through the wispy white clouds, hoping to get out from under what he knew now to be a huge spaceship… before it literally descended on top of him. But as fate would have it, his path took him directly into the attractor beam that had pulled the smaller craft into the larger ship. Wingman One's jet suddenly seemed to flounder and slow. It wobbled momentarily from side to side then began to fly around and around in small circles like a small toy going down the drain… except that it was going up, not down. It was all very dizzying. The fighter pilot wasn't quite sure if the feeling in the pit of his stomach was due to the "ride" or what he expected probably lay ahead.**

**Making a last-ditch effort to break free, Wingman One fired his engines to total power. It made no difference. He rolled his jet over in both directions and attempted to dive. There was no response. The jet hung in the air, still rising, like a toy on a string. Finally resigned to the inevitable, Wingman One closed his eyes, then he relinquished his controls. They were useless now anyway. Nothing he did made any difference. His jet… with him in it… was firmly in the grip of the descending mothership. Wingman One prepared himself for the end.**

**                                   ************

**On the Mesaliko Reservation below, no one was yet aware of the arriving ship. Though the sun appeared to have momentarily gone behind a cloud, the day was still relatively bright… except for the smoke rising from a number of burning homes.**

**Inside one home that was not yet burning, fifteen people who definitely did not want to be there at this moment were struggling to get free of the bonds that tightly bound them. They had awakened minutes before on the floor of the home, their hands and feet securely bound, after having been knocked out by some kind of gas Culpepper had used on them. Max and Michael's hands had been wrapped with numerous layers of tape in addition to being tied up. This had been very effective, so far, at keeping them from using their powers to free themselves. **

**Michael had managed to chew through some of the fiberglass tape on his hands, but it had taken time… too much time… and there was a long way to go before he would have enough of it off to use his powers again. Meanwhile, Amy was memorizing and reciting a list of all the things she planned to do to Culpepper when she saw him again… none of them very pleasant. It never crossed her mind that she might never have that opportunity… or if it did, she refused to allow that possibility to have any place in her conscious mind. To Amy's mind, justice was just a matter of "when," not "if."**

**Had Max or the others been able to see outside, they might have seen the approaching Cobra helicopter that Culpepper had called to finish the job. Max had already noticed the sound of the whirring blades in the distance, but he said nothing. If anyone else noticed, no one else said anything either. There was nothing to be said. They just worked all the harder to get free. If they could manage that, they might, just might, have a chance… maybe not a good one… but a chance nevertheless.**

**On a nearby hilltop, Culpepper's walkie talkie suddenly came alive…  **

**"This is Cobra Nine. Missile 1 is ready. Waiting for your orders, sir."**

**"Fire, Cobra Nine! Just do it!"**

**"Roger that, Culpepper. Cobra Nine Out."**

**After a moment, the Cobra pilot's voice came back… "Firing 1…" There was a distinct pause, as Cobra Nine hesitated, rubbed his eyes and shook his head, then looked out his windshield again.  **

**"Uh… Cobra Nine here… Hold on a minute… There's a… WHAT THE…!"**

**The Cobra pilot shook his head as though to clear it. Surely he had not seen what he thought he had seen. A huge bird had appeared out of nowhere, flying straight at his helicopter on a collision course. Cobra Nine jerked his stick to the right, taking the helicopter into a corkscrew loop. Then he straightened out again…**

**"What's happening, Cobra Nine," Culpepper asked, disturbed that he had not yet seen the explosion he desired and curious about Cobra Nine's unexplained aerobatics.**

**"Something almost flew into me," Cobra Nine said after a minute.**

**"You're the only chopper in the area, Cobra Nine. And I don't see any jets near you."**

**"Negative." Cobra Nine's voice said, sounding strangely quaky.**

**"Well, what was it then?"**

**Cobra Nine decided to keep what he THOUGHT he had seen to himself… at least for now. In his experience, pilots who had reported unusual sightings had often been grounded and sent to the base psychologist for extensive testing. Most had come back saying that they hadn't actually seen anything unusual after all and it had just been sun spots. Those who persisted in the belief that it had been anything else never flew again.**

**"Sun spots," Cobra Nine said after a few moments. "It was just sun spots."**

**"Sun spots?" Culpepper asked, somewhat doubtful. "The sun seems to have gone behind a big cloud, Cobra Nine."**

**"Well, up here, there are sun spots, sir," the pilot insisted.**

**"Never mind, Cobra Nine. Just blow that house blown up… NOW! Carry out orders!"**

**"Yes, sir!" **

**Cobra Nine circled around and headed back toward the home. Once he had lined up his target again, he flipped a switch and spoke into his helmet mike…**

**"Missile 1 is armed… Firing!" Cobra Nine reached up to flip a second switch that would fire the first of the four missiles, but just as suddenly, the huge bird reappeared in front of him. Cobra Nine closed his eyes and opened them again. It was still there… and heading right at him. In a near panic, he took his helicopter over into a sharp dive to avoid colliding with the giant raptor, which had an almost unbelievable wingspan. Cobra Nine guessed it to be 65 feet from wingtip to wingtip. He was not off by much. **

**Leveling off after his hastily executed rollover and dive, Cobra Nine looked out his windshield, searching the sky in every direction for the impossible bird. Then he spotted it. Out of nowhere, it dived at his helicopter, its huge claws extended in his direction. Cobra Nine instantly knew that this giant, eagle-like raptor, with its giant talons, could easily tear his helicopter apart or grab and hold onto it… and it might even be able to carry it away. If he allowed this bird to get its talons on his helicopter, the outcome would clearly be devastating. **

**Already flying too low, Cobra Nine rolled over and tried to dive again, this time plowing his helicopter right into the ground. The pre-armed missile flew off, traveling along the ground toward the house. Clipping a tree along the way, the missile went into a spin then headed back toward the helicopter. The pilot of Cobra One, seeing the missile coming, bailed out of his downed helicopter and ran, trying to put as much distance between himself and the helicopter as he could. Ultimately, the missile missed the helicopter, streaked through the underbrush and trees and ended up in the nearby river. Moments later, there was a tremendous explosion beneath the water of the river. When the dust had finally cleared and the rain of fish, pieces of fish, and river water had all ceased to fall, the Cobra lay on its side, all its rotors bent or broken and its body severely damaged. It would not likely be taking off again any time soon, if ever.  **

**Culpepper had watched Cobra Nine dive and level off then dive again and crash in a cloud of dust. He wanted to curse the pilot of the downed helicopter, but at the moment he was too stunned. Culpepper had not seen the jah-ee. Only the pilot of Cobra One had been able to see the huge Antarian bird. But the crash absolutely baffled Culpepper. The pilot of Cobra One was one of the best they had… and yet… he was flying as though he had lost his mind. It was inexplicable and utterly baffling. **

**Culpepper would soon understand, though.**

**Maybe it was a flicker perceived from the corner of his eye… Maybe it was just a feeling… but something made Culpepper look up again at that moment. He saw the huge bird descending toward him, its talons extended, and the blood all rushed out of his face. Falling to the ground, Culpepper rolled down the hill, stopping only when he rolled into a large prickly bush about half way down. The thorns hurt, but Culpepper barely noticed. Crawling as far under the bush as he could get, he scanned the sky for the huge bird of prey. It seemed to have disappeared. Culpepper looked for his two-way radio/walkie-talkie. He had dropped it during his roll down the hill. He would have to come out from under the bush to retrieve it. The thought of coming out made him shiver involuntarily, but after several minutes without seeing the huge eagle-like bird again, Culpepper cautiously extracted himself from beneath the bush. Still seeing no bird, he ran quickly up the hill to where his two-way radio lay and hastily made a call…**

**"Culpepper here… Come in Cobra Leader."**

**"This is Cobra Leader. What's happening there, Culpepper? Did Cobra Nine give you the fireworks you wanted?"**

**"Negative," Culpepper said simply, not expounding on the reasons or causes.**

**"Negative?"**

**"That's what I said… Negative! I need another pilot."**

**There was a short pause. "Where is Cobra Nine?"**

**"Crashed."**

**There was another pause. "Do you need emergency vehicles?"**

**"Negative," Culpepper responded again. "Cobra Nine is okay…" ("For now," he mumbled under his breath, beginning to blame Cobra Nine for not disposing of the huge bird before it had had a chance to attack him.)**

**"All right," Cobra Leader replied hesitantly. "I'll send Cobra Two. ETA in seven minutes."**

**"Roger that," Culpepper responded. "Put a rush on it."**

**There was no answer.**

**Culpepper breathed a deep sigh and scanned the sky again… looking for the jah-ee. He realized that he was still shivering somewhat.**

**Inside the house, meanwhile, Max and Michael were making the most of their reprieve. Michael had managed to chew through the fiberglass tape that his hands were wrapped in and had helped Max to finish getting the tape off of his hands. Then the two of them had untied themselves and the others.**

**Liz hugged Max. "Max, what are we going to do? We need to get out of here, but if we try to run, they'll see us… and they'll shoot us on sight… especially with you having to carry me."**

**Max swallowed. Liz was right. They were free of their ropes and tape, and still, tied up or not, there was nowhere they could escape to. Yet as long as they were in that house, they were still condemned prisoners… merely waiting for their execution to take place.**

**"We need to make a run for it," Michael said, preferring to die fighting than to sit there and perish without a fight. "We can hold some of them off for a while."**

**"But we'll still all die, right?" Alex asked.**

**Michael nodded solemnly.**

**"Okay… just checking," Alex said.**

**"There's got to be something we can do," Amy said hopefully. "It can't just end like this."**

**Jim put his arm around her. "Sorry Amy. I didn't mean to get you into this mess."**

**"Oh stow it, Jim!" Amy shot back, perhaps a little more feistily than even she had meant to. "You didn't get me into anything. I've been in this from the beginning. I'm not letting any two-bit tyrant or his army hurt my daughter! Not after I just got her back!"**

**Jim grinned and nodded. Amy wiped her eye and took a deep breath, then she gave Jim a peck on the cheek. "I didn't mean that like it sounded, Jim."**

**"Sure you did," Jim said. "And I wouldn't have it any other way. If we had a dozen or so of you, we could probably take that army out there."**

**Amy laughed. **

**"That could be arranged," a voice from the back door said.**

**Jim spun around and looked to see who had spoken, but he already knew by the voice. His mind just refused to believe it.**

**"A'in Ji Lii!" Gray Hawk cried out, running to the girl to check her out, as Kyle, Isabel, and the others crowded around her to convince themselves that she was actually there. "Are you… are you…" **

**"Alive? Yeah…" Angie Lee replied with a smile, hugging Gray Hawk. Then she walked over to Maria and hugged her. "I don't know what kind of power you've got there, Maria, but thanks."**

**"Thank Max… I think…" Maria said. "He's the one who has the power. I just seem to be able to draw on it somehow when someone… someone… I care about is hurt bad enough."**

**Angie Lee looked at Max, and Max shrugged. "I think Rahn called it sourcing or something like that. The human mind has the same abilities the Antarian mind has… Humans just haven't learned to use but a small percentage of theirs."**

**"Did you know about this," Kyle asked Max.**

**"You mean did I know that Maria healed Angie Lee? I felt her drawing on my powers. I hoped… I couldn't do anything myself without them knowing what was happening, but Maria could. I had to hope that it would be enough."**

**"Did you know she was alive," Kyle asked, turning to Maria. "Why the hell didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell me?"**

**"I wasn't sure," Maria said. "I saw the wound close up and the bleeding stop, but she still looked dead."**

**"That was a mind trick," Angie Lee said. "I didn't want to get shot again, so I made it look like I was dead." Angie Lee turned to Max… "Is that common… on Antar?" **

**"Sourcing?" Max shook his head. "No. It's a rare ability, even on Antar, according to Rahn. We don't know why Maria is able to do it."**

**Angie Lee smiled again. "Well… thank you… both of you. Now let's see what we can do about getting you… us… out of here before that helicopter comes with more missiles."**

**"How did you get in here, Angie Lee," Isabel asked.**

**"I just made them not see me… I walked right in."**

**"Can you make us all invisible," Alex asked.**

**"I'm not sure how long I can hold it… completely," Angie Lee said hesitantly. "But I'm going to try."**

**"That's good enough for me," Michael said. "Unless anybody's got a better idea, let's get out of this house… quick! Like she said… time is short. Move, people!"**

**Angie Lee concentrated, and everyone began to disappear.**

**"Couldn't you still let us see each other," Alex asked, grasping for Isabel to make sure she was still there and safe.**

**"Sorry." Angie Lee shook her head, though no one could see this by now. "It's a blanket mind warp. It will affect them and us until I remove it. It's the best I can do. Hold on to each other." **

**Angie Lee reached out for a hand. She couldn't see whose hand she was holding, but she knew… and she smiled. **

**As the group ran for the door, a missile streaked across the Reservation…**

**It took a scant three seconds to reach the house. Splinters, pieces of wood, and flames rose high into the sky above. In the intense light of the explosion, Max and Michael saw each other. Then, for a split second, everyone became visible again. Max thought to himself, "This must be what being in a nuclear explosion is like." For the briefest of moments, they felt the heat… intense heat… and intense light… then nothing at all…**

**The destruction was total. Seconds after the first missile hit, a second missile slammed into what little was left of the foundation, and that missile was followed closely by two more missiles. There was little additional damage the three extra missiles could do. The small wood home, as well as three homes on either side of it, had been completely and totally destroyed by the first missile. But the four missiles together did provide an amazing display… a display that lit up the sky for easily fifty miles around. Smoke rose high into the sky, and pieces of the houses fell as far away as five miles outside the Reservation. Culpepper could not have been more delighted.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Follow The Phoenix**


	29. Dreams28

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Follow The Phoenix**

**Chapter 28**

**XXVIII******

**As smoke, flames, and the fires of hell rose all around them, fifteen people stood silently, trying to comprehend the enormity of what had just happened, and wondering whether or not they were still alive.**

**"Max?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Are we… are we still…" Liz stammered. "I can't see you."**

**"I've still got you in my arms, Liz."**

**"I know. But… what just happened to us?"**

**"I don't know."**

**Max looked around. He could see the bombed out, fiery remains of the house behind and all around him. He could see the flames that reached up to the sky. But he couldn't see any of the other members of their group.**

**"Michael! Are you there?"**

**"I'm right here, Max. I've got Maria. She's still with me."**

**"Iz? Isabel?"**

**"Yeah! I'm here, Max."**

**"Is Alex with you?"**

**"That depends," Alex said. "Did we all just die or am I asleep in my bed and dreaming all of this?"**

**"You're dreaming it," Kyle said. "Go back to sleep."**

**"What are you doing in my dream, Kyle?"**

**"Sorry, Alex. I couldn't see who you were. I was looking for Cindy's dreams."**

**"Who's Cindy?"**

**"October Playmate. Ow! … Who did that?" Kyle looked around, but everyone was still invisible. He knew that he was holding someone by the hand, but he wasn't really sure who it was.**

**No one answered.**

**"Someone whacked me… on the butt!"**

**There was a giggle.**

**"Angie Lee?"**

**"You wandered into my dream, Kyle. Sorry about that. Cindy's not here."**

**Something in Angie Lee's voice made Kyle smile. And now that he knew whose hand he was holding, he noticed that he liked the warm feeling her hand in his gave him, too.**

**"Oh… well, that's okay. Cindy isn't really so hot, anyway. She's probably all plastic. You know… looks good in the package, but when you get it home…"**

**Angie Lee giggled.**

**"I guess you'll have to keep dream-hopping, Kyle… till you find the dream… or the dreamer… that you like."**

**Kyle was silent for a moment. "Or… I could just hang out here for a while… in your dream with you."**

**"Okay… but you'll have to promise to leave when Mel gets here."**

**"Mel?"**

**"Gibson."**

**"I'll give him Cindy."**

**Angie Lee giggled again. "Mel with your October playmate? Odd couple!"**

**"Maybe… who knows… or maybe not," Kyle said. "Anyway, you know what they say… Opposites attract."**

**"Am I your opposite, Kyle?"**

**"Yeah. You're a girl… I'm a guy."**

**"Janet Reno's a girl, too…"**

**"That's blurring the line a bit, Angie Lee! She can out tackle me!"**

**"Is that bad?"**

**"Hell, yeah! I'm the tackle! I need a tacklee."**

**"So if I decided to tackle you sometime then…" Angie Lee said suggestively.**

**Kyle grinned. "I guess I could make an exception to the rule… What's life without exceptions?"**

**"And Janet Reno?"**

**"Too exceptional!"**

**Angie Lee giggled again.**

**"Hey! Hey, guys!" Alex said sharply. "This was my dream… remember? I'm the one who's home sleeping! Kyle, go find a girl in your own dream!"**

**"I hate to bring you guys back to the real world here when you're obviously having so much fun in the middle of this WAR," Michael said, somewhat testily, "but we need to figure out what's going on here and where we're going. Angie Lee?"**

**"I'm right here, Michael."**

**"I'm assuming you're still the reason we can't see each other."**

**"Yeah."**

**"Okay… and no one else can see us either?"**

**"Right."**

**"How did we just survive that… you know… thing… just now? Did you do something?"**

**Angie Lee looked at the scene around her. It looked more like the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust than anything she recognized.**

**"I didn't do anything… except cover us with a mind warp shield to keep anyone from seeing us."**

**"Could your mind warp shield have protected us?"  
  
  
  
**

**"I… I don't know. I don't think so. I know I wouldn't have counted on it… or expected it to."**

**"What was that bright light right before the explosions," Diane Casey asked. "I saw a bright light."**

**"Yeah, she's right," Alex agreed. "I saw it, too. I just thought it was part of the explosion, but since she mentioned it, I do remember seeing the bright light right before the explosions."**

**"I don't think it had anything to do with my mind warp," Angie Lee said. "It was like something from outside… maybe it protected us."**

**"Then let's take advantage of it and get out of here," Michael said. "I don't care what it was… a mind warp or divine intervention… I'll take it!"**

**"I'll second that," Alex said. Then he looked up at the sky… "and Kyle didn't really mean what he said about hooking Mel up with Cindy." **

**"Yes I did," Kyle retorted.**

**"Let Mel take care of his own love life," Michael said. "He's not the one they're dropping missiles on. Besides, I'm pretty sure he's married. Now if we can get down to our own situation here, guys, I need to make sure everyone's here… and we need to make a plan so we don't get separated. Maria… hold onto Max's arm with your other hand. Max has to carry Liz. Alex, you hold onto Max's other arm and hold onto Isabel… and Isabel, hold onto Kyle and Angie Lee…"**

**"Jim? Are you there?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Stay in touch with Kyle and Angie Lee. Amy?"**

**"I'm with Jim.**

**"Gray Hawk?"**

**"I don't think there's enough peyote in all of New Mexico to hide this," Gray Hawk said, surveying the bombed out houses.**

**"Little Fox?"**

**"Yo."**

**"White Feather?"**

**"Still with you, man."**

**"Okay, you guys all keep in touch with each other and with Jim. Diane?"**

**"I'm okay… Glenna and Jeff, my assistant and cameraman are with me, too. We're all here."**

**"Good," Michael said. "Let's go then. Max and I will lead. The rest of you… just hold on till we get there… wherever there is."**

**Michael and Max began walking away from what had been, only moments before, a nice –even if small by some standards- Mesaliko home. Now it was nothing but a pile of cinders and broken dreams that still crackled with the flames of destruction that rose high into the sky. Several other houses around the target house had also been destroyed, collaterally, in the explosions. Michael had the odd feeling, as he walked along the street, that he was in a scene from a doomsday movie in which he was the only survivor of some nuclear holocaust. It had that eeriness to it. He squeezed Maria's hand… convincing himself again that she was there.**

**"What was that for, Michael?"**

**"Just… just making sure." **

**The group walked on… occasionally passing a still-standing home then more destroyed homes. They had lost count of the number of destroyed homes they had passed, but even the standing homes had considerable collateral damage, so the real figure, Michael considered, was one hundred percent total destruction. The Mesaliko Reservation no longer existed… certainly not as the place of quaint and peaceful little homes that it had once been. It was now a charred and destroyed battleground. Michael wondered how in the name of all that was holy the perpetrators of this desecration would explain this to the country… to the people… to their superiors… TO THE PRESIDENT! Did even the president know about it? Michael wondered. How high did this go? Would it even matter? If no one was left to testify against the perpetrators of this massacre… they could make up any lies that seemed convenient to them… and they would undoubtedly be exonerated of any and all wrongdoing. Michael steeled his resolve. He was determined that he would survive to tell the world what had happened here… even if it killed him.**

**                                     ********** **

**Unknown to Michael or the others, 1,649 miles away, in Washington DC, the Mesaliko Reservation was indeed, at that very moment, the topic of a discussion… a very serious and hastily called, very high-level discussion…**

**"Who did you say was responsible for this raid… and who approved it?"**

**"Special Agent Erwin Barker called the raid, sir. He goes by the code name, 'Culpepper.' General Hawkins approved the raid for him and gave him the muscle. Agent Culpepper also has a spy –of sorts- in Roswell who has been assisting him for favors… a judge by the name of Lewis… Horace, I believe."**

**"I'm having a hard time getting my mind to accept this footage that was aired before the cameras stopped rolling, Mister Klein. I mean of course I believe it… I'm seeing it! But it's just so… so incredible."**

**"Yes, sir. I understand. Aliens have been living among us for years… grew up here… went to school here…"**

**"Oh, I can see that, too, Mister Klein. But I can't believe that General Hawkins would actually think he could get away with this… this… heinous act against a reservation… against all those innocent people! General Hawkins must know that if the truth of this ever got out his butt would be the next target for one of his hellfire missiles. He could never run fast enough or far enough to escape. He must believe that he has all his angles covered. Does he even know about this footage?"**

**"Uh, no, sir. You see, sir, Barker… that's Culpepper… had an elaborate radar system set up to intercept and jam these transmissions. That's why he allowed the news team to keep filming as long as he did. The jamming was supposed to block their transmissions without them knowing it."**

**"But it didn't. Why not?"**

**"I, uh… I sabotaged the jamming radar… sir."**

**"You destroyed it?"**

**"No, sir… I just recalibrated the signal. Culpepper was unaware that I did it. I was supposed to be on his team, so he didn't suspect me."**

**"I see… I'm going to handle this, Mister Klein. I need to make a couple of calls. I'm putting you in charge of the Special Unit to replace Agent Barker's Unit supervisor… temporarily. That could become permanent if you are amenable to the position and want the job."**

**Klein nodded. "Yes, sir."**

**"Good. There's a general down in Texas who's very loyal to me and would love to take over General Hawkins' position in Roswell I'm sure. I'm getting him on the line now. I'll have him coordinate a counter… rescue… attack… whatever it is we need to do down there. We'll get Hawkins and Barker out of there… and Culpepper's Unit supervisor, too."**

**"Just like that, sir?"**

**"Just like that. I can relieve them of duty immediately under the emergency statutes act… pending further review. They'll all get a fair trial, of course. I just hope it's not too late for your friends… and for the Indians down there in Roswell."**

**"So do I, Mister President. Thank you, sir. I promise you I won't forget this."**

**"I know, Mister Klein. You're a good man. I can see that. I hope you're as good a director as you've shown yourself to be at getting in here to see me and making your case. If you are, the Unit will be in good hands."**

**"I'll do my best, sir."**

**                                     ************

**On the Mesaliko Reservation… or what little was left of it… Max and Michael had already led the group back to the main road that would take them out of the reservation and back toward town. They were passing the last of the Mesaliko homes when Max stopped suddenly, without warning.**

**"Why are we stopping," Isabel asked.**

**"shhhh… Listen."**

**Isabel listened. Everyone else listened, too.**

**"Someone's talking," Isabel said quietly. "Where are they?"  
  
  
  
**

**"In front of the house," Max said… "behind that Humvee over there."**

**Max moved the group forward to get a better look, then he instinctively caught his breath.**

**"Judge Lewis," Alex and Liz both whispered at the same time.**

**"And he's talking to Culpepper," Kyle added. "That can't be any good."**

**"Just keep walking," Max said. "They can't see us. Nobody talk or make any noise till we're well past them."**

**Max led the group on past the two men. The invisibility warp seemed to be working even better than hoped. Judge Lewis and Agent Culpepper continued talking, and it was obvious that neither one suspected that the group had been there. After several minutes, Max and his group had put a fair distance between themselves and their nemeses.**

**"That was almost too easy," Alex said after they were out of ear shot once more. " I kept expecting one of them to turn around and see us or something."**

**"Can I breathe again?" Maria asked, trying not to wheeze.**

**"Me, too," someone else said, letting out a gasping wheeze and filling their lungs again with a much-needed breath of fresh air. It was Glenna, Diane's assistant.**

**"You can all breathe again," Michael said. "I think we made it."**

**"Good! I was about to pass out," Glenna gasped. "I don't think I could have held my breath any longer."**

**"Well, we didn't mean you actually had to stop breathing," Michael said. "We just meant be very quiet."**

**"I know," Glenna said… "I was trying to breath… I just couldn't."**

**Michael smiled to himself and nodded. "Then you have some idea what it's like to be us… That's our lives… 24/7. Welcome to our world."**

**"It's not our world," Max interjected dryly. "That's the problem. It never will be."**

**"It's our world, too," Isabel countered insistently. "Mom and Dad are here. They were born here. And we grew up here. We belong here now just as much as those… as much as those…"**

**"Say it, Iz!" Alex coaxed. "We all know what they are!"**

**"Good," Isabel sighed. "Then you know what I'm thinking."**

**"Yeah," Alex nodded with a grin… "But I'd like to hear you say it anyway."**

**"You just want me to talk dirty to you, Alex," Isabel said teasingly.**

**Michael chuckled.**

**Alex shook his head. "No, I just want to hear someone else call those assholes what they really are."**

**"You just did it for me," Isabel said.**

**"Besides, Iz… you belong here more than they do. They're the ones that the world would be better off without, not you."**

**"Convince the world of that," Max said glumly. "Then maybe we'll all be able to stop running, getting shot during our graduation, and being held in cells waiting to be dissected… or worse…" **

**"I can help," Diane said quietly.**

**"How can you help us," Max asked.**

**"I can do a special report on your lives… what you have to go through every day… what you've been through already… as young as you still are…"**

**Max was silent.**

**"It might work," Michael said. "It probably couldn't hurt… now that the whole world is going to know about us anyway… I guess."**

**"We'd have to get away from Lewis and Culpepper first," Max reminded Michael. "Then we'd have to hide out until… well, until things changed."**

**"We'll have to hide out anyway, Max," Michael said. "We can't just show up in the CrashDown tomorrow as though nothing ever happened. We're marked to be killed now… all of us. Count on it."**

**"Diane may be, too," Max reminded Michael. "She's a threat to them now more than ever. I don't think they'll just let her do a TV special that exposes everything they've been doing. I don't even think she can go back to work again at all… ever… not and be safe."**

**"So what do you suggest," Michael asked.**

**"I'm thinking."**

**"Well… I think it would be worth the risk," Diane said. "Nothing good ever came without a risk. Besides, it's my story, too, now. I have to do it if I'm ever going to be free again."**

**"You may find that these guys think 'dying to be free' should be a literal expression in our cases," Max said. "You need to consider what you're up against here."**

**"I know what I'm up against," Diane said. "It's a risk I'm willing to take. I just have to keep a really low profile until the story airs. Once they've been outed… it's all over. It would be pointless for them to kill me then."**

**"Ever heard of revenge," Max asked.**

**"I'll risk it," Diane said again. "Like I said, it's my story, too, now. I refuse to live like a coward because of some low-life, lower-than-slime, vegetated pieces of rats-ass sewer scum!"**

**Max smiled. "I knew there was some reason I liked you, Diane. You're a poet!"**

**"Hey, Max, listen," Michael said, interrupting the conversation. "Do you hear something?"**

**Max listened. "Sounds like a car coming. We'd better get off the road."**

**Max led the group off the road and onto a grassy shoulder. Then they stopped and watched. Within moments, a vehicle appeared. It was the Humvee.**

**"Everyone stay quiet," Max cautioned. "They still can't see us, so there's no need to panic. Just stay still and be quiet till they're past."**

**The group watched in silence as the Humvee approached. It was going much slower than they would have expected, barely more than walking speed. As the Humvee approached the place where the group had left the road, it slowed more… then it stopped. Judge Lewis jumped out and looked at the ground excitedly.**

**"See! I told you those were shoe prints! And I told you they were new! They go off into the grass right here."**

**Culpepper got out of the Humvee and looked closely at the slight traces of shoe prints on the hard dirt road. They weren't very obvious. It might even have been debatable whether or not they were really shoe prints at all. But they did seem to turn off into the grass in this area.**

**"What's your point, Judge? You think there are more aliens?"**

**"Maybe…" Judge Lewis said skeptically… "But I'm more inclined to think it's the ones we already know."**

**Culpepper laughed. "Only if they're ghosts! I assure you that's the only way they're ever coming back, Judge!"**

**"Laugh if you want, Culpepper. I know these kids better than you do. I know enough not to believe anything before I see bodies."**

**"There weren't any bodies left to see, Judge. They're dead! They were burned up! Take my word for it. You don't get hit with four hellfire missiles and just walk away! Maybe you're seeing ghosts." Culpepper laughed. "Corporal, get the Judge the number for Ghostbusters. He wants to call 'em."**

**The driver and Culpepper both enjoyed the joke, but Judge Lewis wasn't paying attention to their ribbing. He stepped onto the grass and looked around. Max and all those with him stood totally still, not ten feet away from Judge Lewis. If they ran, he would see the movement in the grass… but if they stayed and he came any closer he might actually find them. For a moment, Max was unsure. Maybe Judge Lewis would not want to venture too far from the road. **

**Judge Lewis stepped forward, taking several more steps into the grass. Somehow Isabel managed to stand totally still, though Judge Lewis was now standing right in her face. She could even smell his breath. She closed her eyes momentarily and hoped she wouldn't sneeze.**

**As fate or bad luck would have it, Judge Lewis decided to take one more step, and Isabel was forced to back up to keep him from running into her. As she stepped back, Judge Lewis' eyes grew large, and he pointed at the grass…**

**"They're here! They're here! I saw the grass move!"**

**He turned around quickly to look for Culpepper, but instead of Culpepper, he saw something he had not expected to see… Amy… standing between him and Culpepper. It took Judge Lewis a mere split second to notice that Amy wasn't really standing, though… Her feet appeared to be floating just above the ground. Momentarily shocked, Judge Lewis' first impulse was to scream at Culpepper and the Corporal who was driving the Humvee to shoot her… and the Corporal, who was even more shocked than the judge by what he was seeing, did, without hesitation.**

**It had no effect. Either Amy was capable of taking a bullet in the chest now and not even flinching or she really was… a ghost. **

**For a moment, Judge Lewis seemed to turn pale. Then he looked at Culpepper again. Culpepper was still staring at Amy's feet, which weren't touching the ground. Judge Lewis turned back around and came face to face with Liz standing behind him. Her feet, too, seemed to be floating just above the ground. Whirling around, he saw Max and Michael… then the others… all staring… silently… accusingly… at the three men… all with their feet floating just above the ground.**

**Culpepper stood paralyzed as though in a trance, and no words seemed to come out of his mouth. The excitable Corporal, however, decided to empty his pistol into the apparitions… with predictable results… no effect.**

**Judge Lewis turned around to face Amy… then turned back to face the others. The more he looked at the "ghosts," the more he began to think. He waved his hand at Amy, but it went right through her. Culpepper almost fainted, and the Corporal gasped loudly, turning even paler than he had been before.**

**"No… No… This isn't right," Judge Lewis said, swiping at the apparition again. "This isn't right I tell you! Ghosts don't leave footprints. Ghosts don't make the grass lay down under their feet. Suddenly and without warning, Judge Lewis reached out in the direction of the place where the grass had moved before and made contact with something. He held on tight. It was an arm.**

**"Ow! You're hurting me!" Maria cried out, as Judge Lewis twisted her arm. "Let go!"**

**"Not on your life," Judge Lewis growled back. "You're gonna be my ticket."**

**"She said let her go," a new voice said behind the judge. Judge Lewis whirled back around to look. It was Jim who had spoken… and beside him was Amy… again.**

**"Oh! So the 'ghosts' can talk, too!" Judge Lewis sneered, looking over at Culpepper as though expecting an apology from the agent to be forthcoming, and in the process, twisting Maria's arm even further. That was a mistake. The moment he turned his eyes away, Amy leveled a crashing fist on his head that sent the judge sprawling to the ground. By now, Angie Lee had dropped the invisibility shield… as well as the special effects. The fake ghosts had all disappeared, and the people were real.**

**Culpepper started to go for his gun, but Jim got there quicker. The Corporal got to his own gun and tried to fire it, but he had already emptied his clip on the fake ghosts that Angie Lee had conjured up. With Culpepper's gun now in Jim's hand, the two men could do nothing but watch.**

**Judge Lewis had lost his grip on Maria's arm as soon as Amy's fist had come crashing down on his head sending him sprawling to the ground. Now she was on top of him, and everything that had been pent up inside her finally came flowing out like the waters behind a burst dam. If Judge Lewis had actually been the BIG DOG that he always claimed to be, his fur would have been flying right now in all directions. What actually was flying was pieces of his clothes and probably skin. Since Amy had the judge down on the ground behind the Humvee, Culpepper and the corporal could not actually see what was happening to the him anymore, but his shrill, terrified howls and the rapidly flying pieces of cloth -and what appeared to be skin- made them wince more than once.**

**"Shouldn't you lend some help there?" Culpepper asked Jim pointedly."**

**"She doesn't look to me like she needs any help," Jim replied matter-of-factly.**

**"I meant HIM, Culpepper barked with a tone of exasperation. "You are the sheriff after all." **

**"NOW you remember that," Jim said. "Well, you must also know then that I have no authority on the Reservation. I'm not the sheriff here. Gray Hawk's people have their own laws."**

**"Well, then, shouldn't YOU stop her," Culpepper said to Gray Hawk.**

**"I will do what I can," Gray Hawk said slowly. "I will have to convene a Council first, of course." Gray Hawk looked around at the burned out homes and sighed dramatically… "There do not seem to be enough Mesaliko present now on the reservation for a Council. When there are, I will bring this matter up… if it is still important at that time."**

**Culpepper winced again.**

**"I didn't realize you were really fond of the judge," Jim said.**

**Culpepper looked at the Corporal and both of them shrugged. **

**"Yeah, well… you've got a point. Besides… it's him, not me," Culpepper said.**

**"Your sympathy is touching," Alex snipped sarcastically. "I think I may cry."**

**A couple of minutes after it had started, another Humvee approached the group. In it were several soldiers armed with AK-47's, a lieutenant, and a higher ranking officer, the second-in-command to General Hawkins. The higher ranking officer looked at what was happening, as the Humvee came to a stop, then he stepped out of the vehicle. Jim still had Culpepper's pistol in his hand, aimed at Culpepper and the Corporal, but he knew it would be no match for four soldiers with AK-47's. He waited to see what would happen, but he didn't lower the gun in his hand.**

**"What's going on here, Barker," the higher-ranking officer asked, calling Culpepper by his real name.**

**"Well, if you'd just open your eyes and look," Culpepper snapped back testily, with frustration and more than a little bit of fear obvious in his voice, "we're being attacked by our prisoners. Now that you're here, I'm sure you'll want to do something about it other than just WATCH!"**

**The General's second-in-command seemed to smile slightly. "You seem to have a problem, Barker."**

**"Are you just gonna talk about it or are you gonna do something," Culpepper snapped gruffly.**

**"I'm thinking," the officer answered. Culpepper's mouth seemed to drop open.**

**The officer motioned toward the soldiers in the Humvee, and they pointed their rifles at Jim, Max, and the others.**

**"Give me the gun," the officer said to Jim. Jim hesitated… then handed the officer the pistol.**

**"This looks like your gun, Barker."**

**"It IS my gun, Edmonds! You KNOW it is! Give it back to me."**

**"Do you just let all your prisoners hold your gun, Barker… or do they have to ask nicely?"**

**"Just give me my gun, Edmonds… or I'll have the General relieve you of command for insubordination."**

**"Insubordination… to you, Barker?" The General's second-in-command raised his eyebrows. "You're just a special agent. You're not even an officer!"**

**"With special connections," Culpepper reminded him.**

**"Maybe not anymore… We'll see," the officer said matter-of-factly. Then he motioned to Jim and the others. **

**"All of you… down on the ground… hands behind your backs." He looked at one of the soldiers holding an AK-47. "Do we have enough handcuffs?"**

**"If we don't, there's some rope in the back," the soldier said.**

**The officer nodded. "Handcuff 'em." Then he handed Culpepper back his gun. **

**Culpepper promptly aimed it at Angie Lee on the ground. The moment he did, Gray Hawk hit him from the side, sending him reeling into one of the soldiers. Culpepper hadn't even seen Gray Hawk get up. He simply seemed to rise off the ground and strike all in one swift motion. A second soldier hit Gray Hawk on the head with the butt of his gun, and Gray Hawk went down, momentarily addled but not unconscious. The soldier hurried to get the handcuffs on him before he could recover enough to fight again. **

**Culpepper walked back over to Angie Lee and pointed the gun at her again. "I killed you once… or I thought I did. Maybe the second time will be a charm." **

**The General's second-in-command grabbed Culpepper's hand and pushed it away.**

**"What do you think you're doing, Barker?"**

**"She's dangerous, Edmonds! She'll have you seeing things that aren't there when you don't expect it."**

**"That's my problem, Barker… and the General's. He may want to find out what makes her tick… if what you say is true."**

**"If? What do you mean, IF, Edmonds? Of course it's true. You'll live to regret it if you don't kill her now."**

**"And you WON'T live to regret it if you DO kill her now against my orders, Culpepper," Edmonds threatened. Culpepper begrudgingly lowered his gun.**

**"What do we do about this one…" the soldier asked, motioning toward Amy, who had still not been pulled off of the pitifully howling, battered, and now mostly naked Judge Lewis. Out of sight as they were behind the first Humvee, and with Judge Lewis howling continuously like a tomcat being pulled through a knot hole by its tail, Amy hadn't even been aware of the arrival of the additional soldiers.**

**"Handcuff her, too."**

**The soldiers looked at each other, silently wondering which one was going to do it.**

**"What about him," the soldier asked, motioning toward the judge.**

**"Take him to the base medic. He looks like he's gonna need it."**

**The soldiers carefully handcuffed Amy, who used her last free arm movement to remove most of what was left of Judge Lewis' hair from his left armpit. **

**"All right… There are a couple more Humvees on the way," the officer said. "When they get here, you guys are getting in and we're all going back to the base."**

**Michael groaned. "Sorry, Max… I let you down."**

**"You did all you could," Max replied. "I don't want to hear any self-recrimination. I'm as much to blame as anyone… More, actually… because I'm the one leading."**

**"Give it a rest, you two," Gray Hawk said with an ever-present air of authority in his voice. You're both to blame."**

**Max looked at Michael and raised his eyebrows slightly. "Nice to have someone who can put it all into perspective for us."**

**Michael nodded.**

**"Weren't you a little hard on them, Grandfather," Angie Lee asked.**

**"No. If I said nothing, each one would continue to blame only himself, and we would have to listen to that forever. Now they will have to put it behind them, because neither will want to blame the other."**

**Angie Lee kissed Gray Hawk on the cheek. "You always were a peacemaker, Grandfather. What do you think they'll do with us?"**

**"I do not know… I will not allow them to hurt you, A'in Ji Lii."**

**"I know," Angie Lee said. "I know. That's what worries me."**

**Moments later, three more Humvees pulled up on the scene. Each had a driver and two armed soldiers in it. The fifteen handcuffed prisoners and Judge Lewis were stuffed into the five Humvees that were now present, including the one Culpepper and the judge had arrived in originally. Then Culpepper's driver was ordered by the General's second-in-command, against Culpepper's wishes, to follow the convoy and return to the base with the prisoners in his vehicle. Still fuming, Culpepper, who had to stay behind, dropped his objections for the moment, but he never planned to allow any of the prisoners to return to the base… even knowing that they would "disappear" once they got there. Culpepper didn't want these prisoners to merely "disappear." "Disappeared" prisoners could still talk… and sometimes they escaped, as he had seen some of these do once already. He wanted them dead… and he had an idea how that might still be accomplished. Unfortunately, it might mean sacrificing "a few" soldiers… and the General's second-in-command. Culpepper smiled.**

**The Humvees drove off through the reservation, heading over the hills rather than out the official entrance, and as they drove away, Culpepper made a two-way radio call…**

**"Cobra Leader, this is Culpepper. Come in."  **

**"Cobra Leader here."**

**"There's a convoy of five Humvees leaving the Reservation… It's heading over the hills from the Reservation bearing south-southeast. The vehicles were commandeered by the terrorists that were holed up on the reservation. They've killed the drivers. The intended target of the terrorists is Area 51. They intend to use our official vehicles to gain entrance and sabotage sensitive areas of national security. I've been ordered to stop this convoy before it reaches the base…"**

**"They'll never get there," Cobra Leader replied resolutely. "Trust me."**

**"The whole nation is counting on you, Cobra Leader. Don't fail us! Culpepper out."  **

**Culpepper pressed the button turning off his two-way radio. Then he looked at the Humvees disappearing in the distance over the hill… and he smiled. Three minutes later, as the Humvees headed out across the desert, the General's second-in-command spotted something far ahead of the convoy but approaching fast.**

**"What do you make those out to be," the officer asked the driver.**

**"I don't know, sir. I believe they're helicopters… looks like maybe some of our Cobras."**

**"Why would more Cobras be coming out here now?" the officer asked, more to himself than to the driver, who obviously wouldn't know.**

**"I don't know, sir… but they're headed directly towards us."**

**"Yes… they are, aren't they," the General's second-in-command said slowly, beginning to have a bad feeling, as he started to put the pieces together. "Driver, stop the vehicle! Get out! Everybody get out! NOW!"**

**No one in the Humvees had time to react to the officer's order. As they started to move, the air itself seemed to open up in front of them between the Humvees and the approaching helicopters. There was a tremendous BOOM, blowing out all the windows in the Humvees, as something shot out of a rift and the rift closed back up again. The object headed straight for the convoy. It looked like… but the officer's mind refused to believe it… a rider on a motorbike… coming right out of a hole in the sky.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Michael times Two  **


	30. Dreams29

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Michael Times Two & Other Miracles**

**Chapter 29**

**XXIX******

**Edmonds realized that the Cobra helicopters heading toward them almost certainly were Agent Culpepper's doing… and that meant danger… serious danger. It might have been debatable whose death would have pleased Culpepper more… the prisoners'… because they could talk and implicate him… or Edmonds'. The General's second-in-command had always been a needle in Agent Culpepper's side. Culpepper certainly considered the expected "loss" of Edmonds in the attack to be icing on his cake. The fact that a dozen soldiers would also die with Edmonds and the prisoners meant nothing to him. He had nothing against them… but collateral losses were, Culpepper figured, to be expected in any operation. He didn't expect to lose any sleep over it. In fact, he was sure that he would sleep quite well knowing that his "problems" had been taken care of "permanently."**

**The moment Edmonds realized the danger, he very correctly ordered the vehicles abandoned. Edmonds knew that the target of the Cobras' missiles would be the Humvees, which with their ample gas tanks, would be incinerated… along with anyone in them. Heeding the order to evacuate, everyone scrambled to get out quickly. By rights, they should have made it, because the Cobras were not yet in range to fire their missiles. But then something totally unexpected happened. The sky in front of the convoy opened up, and a hole… or rift… appeared in the air. An object that looked oddly like a motorbike shot out of the rift at a blurring speed, then the rift immediately reclosed with a thunderous BOOM so loud that it blew all the windows out of the Humvees and threw several of the drivers and soldiers out onto the grassy hillside. The convoy came to an immediate stop. When everyone had managed to get back onto their feet or climb back into a sitting position again, they saw that the helicopters had disappeared… all of them. **

**The object that had shot out of the rift in the sky touched down on the ground in a puff of smoke and flying grass, and within mere seconds, it had closed the gap and pulled up beside the convoy. Everyone could see now that it was a motorbike… but… what kind of motorbike comes out of the sky… or makes a sonic boom? Certainly nothing that anyone present had ever seen. It was sleek and aerodynamic, and though it lacked wings, it almost looked like it could fly… in fact, it appeared that it just had. **

**The mysterious helmeted rider, dressed in a sleek black fabric that might have been some kind of leather, dismounted and looked at the Humvees. Since most of the soldiers had dropped their weapons when the boom had thrown them out of their vehicles, the newcomer seemed to enjoy a certain advantage at the moment. Apparently just realizing this, several of the soldiers scrambled for their weapons, and as they did, the newcomer started to raise one hand. The soldiers hesitated… Was he surrendering? **

**"OH! OW! DAMN!" **

**The soldiers began dropping their guns like hot potatoes. The barrels of the guns started to melt and closed up like straws that had had the air suddenly sucked out of them. Then the stranger's hand began to glow brighter and brighter. Sensing immediate danger, the soldiers nearest to the closest Humvee scattered, putting distance between themselves and the vehicle's gas tanks, but the stranger did not target the vehicle. Instead, he released a blast from the palm of his hand that left a ten-foot-wide, five-foot-deep crater in front of the scattering soldiers. It appeared to have been done as a sign… some kind of demonstration of his powers… a warning that he was not to be trifled with or challenged. It worked.**

**After surveying the scene, the rider calmly removed his helmet. As he did, two gasps came from inside the second Humvee.**

**"It's you," Max said, looking at Michael then back at the stranger again.**

**"Can't be," Michael replied, shaking his head. "It's got to be a trick!"**

**Max jumped out of the Humvee, and Michael followed him. Alex, who had been riding in the third Humvee, behind the one Max and Michael were in, was already out and heading toward the newcomer, too. Inexplicably, both Alex and Liz, who because of her legs could not leave the vehicle she was in on her own, were smiling broadly.**

**"Don't they even know when they should be afraid," Michael wondered to himself, turning back and looking at the newcomer again. Michael walked up to the strange sky rider, and the two of them stood there, face to face. They were the same height. They had the same hair, the same eyes, the same build… though the newcomer might have been a few years older. **

**The newcomer smiled… then nodded slightly, with a look of satisfaction and relief on his face… **

**"I thought you guys looked like you needed some help down here.**

**"Yeah," Michael said, nodding in return but still a bit suspicious. "You thought right. I guess I owe you."**

**The newcomer shrugged. "It was nothing that you wouldn't have done yourself."**

**"How would you know…" Michael started to ask reflexively, but he had already guessed the answer.**

**"Michael," Alex said, strolling confidently up to the newcomer with a huge smile on his face. "Meet our Michael."**

**"I just did," the newcomer said, smiling. **

**Alex turned to Max and Michael of his group… "Remember when Liz and I were in the hospital and they thought we were in a coma…? Oh, wait… you wouldn't know about that, would you!" Alex suddenly remembered that Max and Michael had still been missing and were presumed to be dead when that had happened.**

**"Well, I remember it," Kyle said, walking up and looking at the newcomer. So do Dad… and Mom."**

**Jim smiled and put his arm on Kyle's shoulder. Standing beside Jim, Amy was smiling, too. Kyle had called her the "M" word… "Mom." And it sounded somehow so very right.**

**Within seconds, the newcomer was surrounded by the other members of the group and having to hold his hands up to stop them from asking any more questions… for the moment. In time, he would answer all their questions.**

**"There were some helicopters headed this way," Edmonds said, finally screwing up enough courage to approach the newcomer, too. "What happened to them?"**

**The newcomer shrugged. "If they were near the rift when I came out of hyperspace they probably either crashed or had to set down or return to base for repairs… The bike makes a pretty big bang when it comes out of hyperspace. It would have caused a lot of damage to any helicopters that were too close."**

**Max smiled. "I can attest to the power of your sonic boom… or whatever it was. It broke all the windows out of the Humvees… and I think it blew the clothes off of a couple of soldiers, too.**

**The newcomer Michael laughed. "Like the shebbles."  **

**Max looked puzzled, and Michael began to explain…**

**"The first time I rode this bike, I came out of hyperspace in the hills of the Chanesio region on our planet, Antar. That region is famous for its shebble herding. Shebbles look kind of like a cross between a yak and a buffalo or something, and their abundant hair is harvested by the shebble herders in the region. It comes off pretty easily I found out. When I came out of hyperspace on my bike, a whole field full of shebbles were suddenly left as bald and pink as a newborn baby's butt by the sonic blast… and shebble hair floated down out of the sky for most of the rest of that day. I thought it was pretty funny at the time… but the royal treasury had to reimburse the shebble herders for all their losses." The newcomer smiled at the memory. "You know… it WAS pretty funny, though! Maybe not as funny as Max's hat with the big feather, but…"**

**"Sounds funny to me," Alex agreed. "I wish I could have seen it."**

**"I wish you could have, too," the newcomer Michael said. "You'd have appreciated it. It wasn't a total loss, though. The shebble manure market had really good profits that week."**

**Alex grinned. "There's somebody else over there who'd like to say hello to you." He motioned toward Liz in the third Humvee. The newcomer smiled and walked over to the Humvee.**

**"Hello again, Liz."**

**"Hi!"**

**"I'm glad to see you and Alex made it back safely and you're both okay."**

**Liz nodded. "Except that my legs don't work again… not like they did on Antar… when we were in those perfect new prefab bodies."**

**"Yeah, I remember you said that you were paralyzed. Couldn't Max help you?"**

**Max looked somewhat uncomfortable, and he shook his head. "I couldn't. I tried. Her spine had a gap in it where the bullet went through. I closed the gap up, so at least she isn't risking instant death now every time she moves… but it didn't give her the use of her legs back, Michael. Uh… can I call you that?"**

**"Yeah. It's my name."**

**"Well, it's just kind of weird, you know, having two of you here at the same time."**

**"There's another Max here, too," the newcomer said. "He's up there… in the ship." Michael motioned upward. "Maybe he can heal Liz… or maybe both of you can together…"**

**Max's face suddenly brightened noticeably, and his eyes sparkled… partly with new hope… and partly from the tears that began to well up in them without warning. He nodded emphatically… "It's worth a try! I think we ought to do it! Yeah… Let's do it!"**

**"You'll get the chance," the newcomer said, pulling out a small device and pushing a button. A second later, everyone had disappeared except the newcomer. He smiled and looked around at the empty Humvees with their broken windows. There was nothing but the breeze around him now. It was kind of nice. Michael got back onto his bike and twisted the throttle. The bike shot forward instantly, building speed at an incredible rate. In just under six seconds, the air in front of him split apart and opened, and the bike and its rider rushed into the rift. Then the rift reclosed with a thunderous BOOM, blowing the Humvees through the air like paper toys. On the hill, there was no longer anyone around to care.**

**                                   ************

**The fifteen friends and their former captors saw only a bright light. Then the world they had known disappeared from beneath their feet. It was an odd yet somehow strangely calming and peaceful experience. They were entirely and totally at the mercy of whatever this was, yet somehow, it seemed almost impossible to fear it. Whatever lay ahead, they all knew instinctively that none of them could change or alter it now. The experience in the light lasted no more than three or four seconds, but it made a lasting and deep impression… especially on the soldiers and the General's second-in-command, Edmonds.**

**As the light began to diminish and their surroundings became visible again, the twenty-eight people noticed that they were in a very large white room now. Looking around, at first, no one saw anything but the distant white walls of the huge room, but then there was movement. Something small… smaller than an average human… climbed -or seemed to glide actually- down a makeshift ramp to the floor. The alien creature had on an all-white robe. The soldiers looked at Edmonds, and Edmonds shrugged and looked at Max and Michael. Max and Michael appeared to be as surprised as the others.**

**The small alien glided up to the group and stopped. Then it spoke… in English…**

**"Someone will be here to escort you momentarily. In the meantime, I will try to answer any questions you might have."**

**That was probably a mistake. The helpful little "alien" could not have foreseen the barrage of questions he was about to receive, and Diane, with her instinctive nose for news, was right at the front, but one of the soldiers managed to ask the first question…**

**"Which way did I go?"**

**The little alien appeared puzzled by the question.**

**"Did I go up or down," the soldier asked, hoping to clarify his question.**

**"You went up," the little alien replied.**

**"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" the soldier mumbled.**

**"Where are we," Diane asked.**

**The small alien turned and faced Diane. "You are on the Antarian mothership… the New Granolith."**

**"A spaceship!" Diane turned and smiled at the soldier, who looked embarrassed.**

**"Are you… Antarian?" Diane asked.**

**"I am," the small alien confirmed… but I am not biological."**

**"What is your species then?" one of the soldiers asked.**

**"Species?" The small alien seemed puzzled by the word when it was applied to him. **

**"Yeah, you know… your people… What are they?"**

**"I am a droid… or a robot if you prefer… though perhaps more advanced than any you may be familiar with."**

**"A robot," Diane repeated, already thinking of a hundred more questions she wanted to ask the small creature. "Are your people… robots then?"**

**"No. I am a robot… a droid. My usual function is to prepare and serve the meals on the ship for the biological beings who must be fueled and lubricated in that manner."**

**Diane smiled and nodded, seeming to understand… "You prepare the food. Were you sent here to meet us?" **

**"No. I was already here. The walls of this bay needed to be painted, and it is my turn to paint." The little droid held up a mechanical arm-like device with a white roller on the end of it. I was painting when you arrived. I don't usually wear this frock, but it would not be good if I were to become painted due to an accident. My systems might require extensive cleaning." **

**"You have to cook and then paint, too?" Little Fox asked, seeming surprised.**

**"I am not required to paint," the little droid replied. My function is only to prepare and serve the meals. I traded places with one of the painter droids… just for a few hours… to see what it would be like to do something different. It was his turn to paint… so I am here to take his place… and he is preparing lunch right now. The little droid actually seemed to sigh. "Actually, this frock is no different really than the apron I wear when I prepare food for the dining room. It just covers more of me." **

**"So… everyone on your planet doesn't wear white robes then…" the soldier asked. "And all the rooms aren't white?"**

**"No, of course they are not," the little droid replied. "There are many colors on Antar… and on this ship, too… a lot of colors."**

**The soldier smiled and swallowed. "Okay. That's kind of good to know… I think."**

**Several others started to ask questions, but at that moment, a section of the wall moved to one side, and three people walked in. One was Max. It seemed that everyone in the room turned to look at the Max who was with them then back at the new Max who had just entered. The second one to enter was Michael, whom they had met below on earth. The third was different… a little bit. His eyes were ever so slightly larger, his skin was ever so slightly lighter than might be expected, and he exuded an "alien" air about him in some way that no one there could precisely explain… probably no more so in reality than many humans, and certainly less than some… Carrot top and Dennis Rodman came to Diane's mind. This third man could be human… He was certainly very good-looking… but there was that air… He just seemed different somehow.**

**"Gentlemen," the new Max said, addressing the newcomers. "Michael has already filled me in about you." He looked at Edmonds directly. "I take it we can expect this meeting and the time you are here on our ship to be peaceful."**

**"Would we gain anything if it were not," Edmonds asked.**

**Max shook his head. "No."**

**"That's what I thought," Edmonds said. "We will not resist. We have no weapons. We're your prisoners."**

**Max nodded. "In a manner of speaking, we could say that, yes." Then he turned to the third man who had entered the room, the one with the strangely alien air but rugged good looks…**

**"This is Varec. Varec is Antar's brightest and most revered scientist. He's also one of the most eminent scientists in the whole of the known universe. This ship is his design… and he helped build it. He's part of our crew… and our friend… and our science expert… along with my wife, Liz."**

**The younger Max, holding Liz in his arms, looked stunned.**

**"Does that surprise you," the Max from Antar asked.**

**His younger double shook his head thoughtfully. In his arms, Liz smiled.**

**The Max from Antar walked over to his younger self and held out his arms. The younger Max hesitated… but then he put Liz into Max of Antar's arms.**

**"Come on," Max said to his younger self. "You and I have business to attend to. Let's go somewhere more private. Varec, you come with us. Michael will take care of finding a proper place for each of our… visitors."**

**Max walked out of the room carrying Liz, and the younger Max followed along on his heels, not letting his Antarian counterpart out of his sight while he had Liz… even if this person was… well… him. Max from Antar stepped into the glass ascension chamber with Liz, and his younger self and Varec stepped in with him. The chamber began to rise smoothly upward. After several brief moments, it stopped, and the doors opened. Max stepped out, followed by the others, and walked toward the bridge, where Liz and Maria from Antar were waiting…**

**"You found them! They're okay then?" Maria exclaimed excitedly.**

**"Just like Michael said," Max replied. "They're all okay and they're all onboard."**

**"That's wonderful," Liz said. "I'm so glad!"**

**"I am, too," another voice said from nearby. The younger Max and Liz turned around to look.**

**"Rahn!" they both exclaimed at the same time. **

**"Omigod," Liz said, "We thought something had happened to you!"**

**"It kind of did," Rahn said. "I went back and found my old ship on the base where Maria said it was… and I flew it to the reservation to rescue you… my friends… but I was shot down."**

**"You crashed?" the younger Max asked.**

**"I would have, but the people on this ship saw my ship going down and retrieved it with a magnetic wave beam. I've been here, working with them to save you… but we thought you were killed when the missiles hit the house. How did you escape?"**

**"Angie Lee covered us with a mind warp shield so we couldn't be seen," Liz said. "We were leaving when a bright light suddenly engulfed us then the missiles hit. We thought we were dead for sure, but something protected us. We aren't sure what."**

**"The mind warp shield," Varec said.**

**"So that really was what saved us then?" Max asked.**

**"Not by itself," Varec replied. "I believe the beam we sent to try to retrieve you may have interacted with the mind warp shield in a way that may have protected you from the explosions… but the combined protection also caused the beam to lose you. So we thought that you had all been killed in the explosion."**

**"Well, I'm happy to report that that rumor is not accurate," Max said.**

**"I am happy, too," Varec said.**

**"Me, too," Rahn added.**

**"That goes for us all," Max from Antar said. "Let's see what we can do for Liz."**

**Max laid the younger Liz down on the sofa at the back of the room and motioned to his younger self.**

**"It will take both of us to do this. And even then…"**

**"It'll work," the younger Max said positively. "It's got to! It's just got to."**

**Max from Antar placed his hands over Liz's lower spine, where the bullet had injured it, and the younger Max placed his hands on top of those of his double. The glow over Liz's back almost doubled when the younger Max added his hands to those of his Antarian counterpart. For almost a minute and a half, they continued, then the glow began to ebb.**

**"I feel better," Liz said. "I feel stronger."**

**"Can you move your legs," Max from Antar asked.**

**Liz looked at her legs and tried to move them. As she did, her face seemed to go from joyous to unsure… then to despair. "I can't. I still can't feel them."**

**"Let's try again," the younger Max said to his double. "I know we can do it!"**

**Max from Antar seemed less sure than his younger self, but he nodded. Both of them placed their hands directly on Liz's back, and their hands glowed with a strong, powerful force for over two minutes. Liz felt it from her back to her head and down to her toes. It was a warm, comfortable, healing feeling.**

**"Try to move your legs now," Max said again.**

**Liz tried… then she tried again. Then the tears started to run down her face. The younger Max turned away to hide his own tears and smacked his fist into the wall.**

**"Max." It was Liz who had spoken… "You love me anyway, don't you?"**

**Max bent over Liz and held her tightly in his arms, as the tears ran down his face onto hers.**

**"You know I'll always love you, Liz. I'll love you no matter what. I just wanted you to be able to live your life again like… like…"**

**"Like what, Max?"**

**"Like you could have if you'd never met me."**

**Liz closed her eyes and hugged Max tightly. "I'd give up my legs for you all over again, Max. It wouldn't matter. I made my choice. I chose you. That's what I want. If that means I'll never walk again, it'll still be my choice. And, Max… it's worth it… to me."**

**Max cried.**

**For a while, no one in the room spoke. It was Rahn who finally broke the silence.**

**"Well, there could be one other… possible… solution." **

**Max looked up. **

**"I don't want to give you any false hope. Keep in mind that it may not work," Rahn said.**

**"It won't matter," Max replied. "Nothing I do can help Liz."**

**Liz kissed him. "Your being here with me already has helped me, Max. It's the life I chose. It's the life I want. Understand that… please!"  Max sniffed and turned back to Rahn.**

**"What can be done that I haven't tried already, Rahn?"**

**"Among my people, there is a… small procedure that is done at birth or very soon after birth that prepares us to be able to change our form. You would not be expected to be able to change your forms, because you have not had the millions of years of evolving that we have had as shapeshifters… but…"**

**"But what?"**

**"But… it is possible that if I did this procedure to Liz… maybe… she might be able to learn… one day… to walk again by… I guess you could say, rebuilding her spine… changing its form… changing it inside the bone where the nerve is. It would be shapeshifting… but merely in a very small way. Your bodies would not be capable of any more than that. I'm not really sure that they're capable of even that… but it would be worth trying."**

**"What would you have to do to Liz," the younger Max asked. His Antarian counterpart nodded, on the verge of asking the same question.**

**"It is not invasive. They do it to babies in our culture. Someone who knows what part of the brain to activate has to use their power to activate that part of the baby's brain… or in this case, Liz's brain. Humans have similar brains to ours. I am almost certain that you have that potential… it has just not evolved. And humans do not know how to activate it. It does not activate automatically even in all of our people… only in a very few. That is why we have to do the procedure to activate and prepare newborns."**

**"And it won't hurt Liz?" Max asked.**

**"It cannot hurt her," Rahn said.**

**"How come I have never heard of this procedure before," Max of Antar asked.**

**Rahn looked momentarily uncomfortable. "It is one of our greatest secrets. We do not tell others."  **

**"Show me," the younger Max said. "Do it." He looked at Liz, and Liz nodded.**

**Rahn put his thumb on a point just behind Liz's right temple and his second and third fingers on points behind her right ear. Then he concentrated for several moments… Then he removed his hand.**

**"That's it?" both Max's asked at the same time.**

**"Yes. It does not teach one to change… it only prepares a small area of the brain to be receptive to learning how to change. Liz may never learn to walk again. You will forgive me if she does not, won't you, Max?"**

**"Rahn…" Max shook his head. "Even if Liz never walks again, you tried to help her. I'll never forget that. I'll owe you for that as long as I live." He turned back to Liz…**

**"Do you feel any different, Liz?" **

**Liz shook her head. "I still feel the warmth from what you did before, Max. It made me feel good all over… like a really deep massage. But I don't feel my legs."**

**Max nodded and looked back at Rahn. "You said it might take some time before she learns to walk, right?" **

**"If she learns," Rahn said. "She may not. It was just something I had to try."**

**"Thank you," Max said. He turned back and smiled at Liz. Liz hugged him then kissed him… and Max felt her leg move slightly.**

**Max jumped back, shocked. "You… you moved!"**

**"I did?" Liz seemed to be unaware of it. "I didn't feel anything."**

**"Try again," Max coaxed. Liz concentrated… and her leg moved again."**

**"How did you do that," Max asked, excitedly. "Can you do it again?"**

**"I was just picturing what the spinal cord should look like inside the spinal segments and the discs… and I pictured my spine… in my mind… being like that."**

**"Well, it's working," Max said, almost jumping up and down with excitement.**

**"Amazing," Rahn said. "It is incredible that she would be able to do that so soon. It's a very good sign."**

**Liz smiled and concentrated again, "imagining" her spine whole and as it should be in its entirety. At first, the effort was somewhat taxing, but then it began to be easier. The "image" seemed to be retained in her brain for later recall… probably in that part of the brain that Rahn had activated. Liz "recalled" the image again. It was really not so hard to do now. The image was right there… just waiting to be put into use. **

**Using all the effort she had to remember what it had been like to walk, Liz pushed her hand down on the sofa and pushed her body up into a sitting position. This in itself was not really new. Liz had been able to do this for a long time now. But what happened next was unexpected. Liz set both feet on the ground, rocked forward, testing her weight on them like a fledgling bird testing the wind under its wings before flying, then stood up.**

**tbc**

**Coming Next: The Tide Turns**


	31. Dreams30

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Invasion Of Roswell, Part I**

**The Tide Turns**

**Chapter 30**

**XXX******

**Max rushed to position himself where he could catch Liz if she fell. But as the moments passed… she remained standing.**

**Liz looked at her feet then at Max… then at the sofa she had been sitting on. For a moment, it seemed as though she might sit back down, but instead she lifted one leg… slowly… and placed it in front of the other. Max reached out for her, but Liz shook her head.**

**"Don't help me."**

**Without realizing it, Max stopped breathing. Liz lifted her other leg… slowly… methodically… placing it in front of the first leg. Then she set her foot down on the floor. She had taken her first step.**

**Max suddenly realized that his lungs were aching for air and reflexively took a deep breath… If the truth were told, it was difficult to tell if Liz's first step had been more stressful on Liz or on Max. Max was a conflicting mass of emotions, his face covered in a broad smile, yet scarcely daring to breathe. **

**"You walked! Liz! You really did it! You walked!"**

**Liz lifted her left foot and placed it in front of her right foot again, then placed her right foot in front of her left. It was easier this time. Her legs were beginning to tire, though. She took three more steps, falling into Max's arms as she reached him.**

**"Are you okay," Max asked breathlessly, holding her in his arms.**

**Liz smiled. "Yeah. I'm just tired, Max. My legs haven't had to support any weight for a long time."**

**"Are you sure that's all? You didn't hurt yourself, did you?"**

**Liz shook her head and kissed him. "Don't worry, I'm fine. And I walked, Max! I did it once… I can do it again."**

**"Her legs will have to adjust to bearing weight again," Rahn said… "but it looks like that will not be a problem for Liz. She's already done the hard part. She took the first step… the first several steps, in fact. She has walked."**

**Max ran his hand over his eyes, still apparently trying to convince himself that what he had just seen had actually happened and that he had not merely dreamt that Liz had walked again, as he had so many times before. **

**"I don't know how to thank you, Rahn. I could never begin to thank you for this."**

**Rahn seemed embarrassed. "It was the right thing to do." **

**"Is she healed now?" **

**Rahn shook his head. "Liz is still exactly as she was… What I did has not changed that. What will change is that she will be able to use shape-shifting to reconstruct her spine at will in order to walk again… or anything else she wants to do. She will just have to hold it that way with her mind."**

**"You mean… she'll have to keep thinking about it all the time?" Max was clearly concerned. "Won't that be taxing… constantly having to hold a… a 'repaired' form?"**

**Rahn shook his head. "It's not as hard as it might seem. Once the brain has been prepared, holding a shape is like breathing… well, maybe more like walking. You don't consciously think about it all the time. You don't say, 'Okay, now I have to put the other foot forward' or 'Now I have to take a breath…'"**

**"Maybe YOU don't," Max said, telling himself to take another breath as he realized that he had started to hold it again from the excitement of seeing Liz walking.  **

**Rahn ignored the comment and continued seriously. "Somewhere in your subconscious, maybe you tell yourself to walk or to breath… but you don't think about it when you do it. I have held an alien shape, without changing back, for as long as ten years. Once she is used to it, Liz should have no trouble holding the repaired form whenever she is awake… but she will probably revert back when she sleeps."**

**"But that's not the same as being healed," Max said.**

**"After she becomes accustomed to holding the shape, it will almost be the same," Rahn replied. "It'll be like getting out of bed and walking. She'll just have to make a slight adjustment before she stands up. No one would notice."**

**Liz nodded. "It'll be fine, Max! I'll walk again. I can do anything I ever did before! How many people get that chance?"**

**"I know," Max admitted. "I am grateful, Rahn. I want you to know that. I owe you a lot. I just care a lot about Liz, and I want her to have a normal life again."**

**"Well… maybe normal isn't my thing, Max," Liz said scoldingly. "I already told you. I made the decision to live my life with you… and that means with all the consequences that that might include. It was my decision. I would never go back to normal again… even if I could. Normal would be so boring now anyway."**

**Max smiled. "Well, for better or worse, Elizabeth Parker, you'll certainly never be bored with me. I can promise you that."**

**"I know," Liz said, returning his smile.**

**Standing nearby, Max's double from Antar looked over at Michael… "I think we need to bring the rest of the guests up to the bridge now."**

**Michael raised his eyebrows a notch and smiled. "The more the merrier. I'll round up the rest of our crew and get them in here, too, and we can have a game of who's who… or doubles… or something. It should be interesting."**

**Michael left and went to the recreation room at the end of the hall where most of the sleeping quarters were. That was where the "guests" had been taken by the droid. Michael and Max had decided earlier that the group brought up from earth would be divided into "guests" and "hostiles" for future reference. Though not locked up, Edmonds and his unit, along with the fighter pilot who had been brought onboard earlier, had been placed in a separate area that was more securely monitored, and they would not be joining the others now. **

**Michael returned to the bridge after a few minutes with the earth "guests," which at that time included his counterpart, Michael from earth, Maria, Jim, Amy, Gray Hawk, Little Fox, White Feather, Angie Lee, Kyle, Isabel, Alex, Diane, and her assistant and cameraman, Glenna and Jeff. The gang of rescuers from Antar was already there, having been paged to come to the bridge as soon as possible. They included Jim, Alex, Isabel, Maria, Tess, and Rayylar. Both Maxes, both Lizzes, and Varec, had already been on the bridge, as had Michael of Antar before he went to get the others. Fortunately, the bridge of the New Granolith was large enough to accommodate everyone present and quite a few more, but it was beginning to have all the atmosphere of a party already with so many people present. **

**As the guests entered the room, Gray Hawk immediately noticed Tess and seemed to be confused by what appeared to be another Angie Lee. He knew that the real Angie Lee had transported up with him. But even if she hadn't, he still would have been able to pick her out. The faces might be the same, but there were still the cultural differences. In some unexplainable way, they were clear to Gray Hawk. This other one was a dead ringer for his Angie Lee, but she wasn't the one he had raised. Seeing the look on Gray Hawk's face, Angie Lee hugged him. Gray Hawk looked at her then smiled and wiped a tear from the cheek of his weathered face.**

**Amy spotted Maria… both of them… and ran to them, hugging them both together. She knew, of course, which one was hers, but it appeared for a while that she intended to simply take them both. Maybe it was a mother's instinct.**

**"Uh, Mom," Maria said cautiously. "I'm the one. I'm your daughter."**

**"I know," Amy replied, hugging Maria again. "But how often do I lose my daughter, think she's dead, then get two of them back? Huh?"**

**"I don't think you can handle two of us, Mom."**

**Amy smiled.**

**After giving Maria a hug, too, Jim walked up to his double from Antar and looked him over… then he nodded.**

**"I've held up pretty well for an old man."**

**Jim's Antarian double's mouth dropped open. "There's only about five years between us… seven tops."**

**"Really? The local Jim said. "I guess I'd better start taking better care of myself then."**

**"Well, when you've hunted in the Nan-Torel and faced off a wild pawgor come back and we'll have somethin' to talk about," the Jim from Antar replied. Both Jims looked at each other for a few moments, as though sizing each other up, then they smiled and slapped each other on the arm.**

**"Okay, you're me alright," the local Jim said. "I don't know what a wild pawgor is, but I've faced a few wild FBI special agents. That's gotta be good for somethin'!"**

**"Pretty close," his Antarian counterpart said, nodding. "I'd rather face off the wild pawgors, to tell the truth."**

**"Did you ever get remarried," the local Jim asked. **

**His counterpart from Antar nodded. "Yep… to Kathleen Topolsky."**

**The local Jim's eyes opened wide. "Topolsky? The Agent Topolsky? No! You're kidding, right?"**

**Jim's Antarian double shook his head.**

**"Is she here… with you?"**

**"No. She stayed on Antar to help watch the kids."**

**The local Jim shook his head. "You know Topolsky's one of those wild FBI agents I was talking about."**

**"But she's pretty," the Jim from Antar said with a wry grin. "Anyway, I tamed her."**

**The local Jim nodded. "Yeah… she's pretty… pretty dangerous! But you're right, there's no denyin' she's a looker. I'll give you that. Damn, man! There's more to you than I thought."**

**The Antarian Jim smiled. "How 'bout you? Did you get remarried?"**

**"Yeah… just recently… to Amy."**

**"Amy DeLuca?" the Antarian counterpart exclaimed. "You talk about me livin' dangerous! Now there's a woman that'll take more than a little tamin'!"**

**"I don't plan to tame her," the younger Jim said. "I decided to take her just like she is."**

**Jim from Antar smiled. "Well, that was smart… and you made a good choice. If I hadn't fallen in love with Kath because of circumstances that put us together and all, I might have wound up with Amy myself. But I'm happy… and so's she. She married Varec." Jim motioned toward the mysterious, good-looking alien.**

**"An alien?"**

**"Well… we both got married on Antar, and he's the Antarian… so I reckon he's the one that married the alien. Anyway, she likes him."**

**"Go figure," the younger Jim said. "Amy always was a bit of the rebel. Funny thing is, I can see her going for someone like him… I mean if I weren't around. I wonder how he deals with her, though… her being an alien to him and… and being Amy, too! She's pretty feisty."**

**The Antarian Jim grinned. "I'd say they get along pretty well. They've got a little girl, Liz-Jolee z'Varec. Kath and I have a boy, Danyy. He can talk to pawgors and other animals."**

**"I wish I could meet him," the Jim from earth said. "Danny, huh?"**

**"Yeah. We spell it with one n and two y's. It's more like the spelling of his Antarian name. I wish you could meet him, too. Danyy's quite a boy! But he's in a different dimension right now. I doubt we'll ever have the chance for all of us to be together with the kids and all. This was kind of a one-time rescue mission. We didn't bring the kids. We weren't really sure what we would find on this trip."**

**As Jim and the rest of the group got acquainted with their doubles and met those they didn't know onboard the ship, Liz called Max over to her. Both Max's came running. **

**Liz looked at her Max… then she looked at his double from Antar…**

**"Max… I know we're safe here on this ship, but… I need to know if Mom and Dad are okay. They're still in danger down there. And there's something else…"**

**"What's that," Max asked.**

**"I want them to be the first ones to see… you know… what Rahn helped me do… well, the first ones except for you and Michael and the ones who were here when it happened, of course."**

**"You aren't going to tell anyone else?" Max asked.**

**"Not yet. You understand, don't you, Max? I'll just sit here on the sofa and talk to everyone. They don't have to know yet. Will you keep my secret?"**

**Both Maxes smiled and nodded. "I think there's something we can do about that," Max from Antar said. "It's about time we took a more active role in this conflict anyway. Jim told me that your mom and dad and some of the others are waiting at the entrance to the Reservation. I was thinking they might be willing to accept a ride… if they knew that you were here. What do you think?"**

**Michael looked at Max. "We can do that. We can transfer them all up to the ship… as long as they're not too close to anyone we don't want to bring up."**

**"Varec," Max said. "Let's take the ship down all the way. It's time people got a good look at us."**

**                                     ************

**Outside the Mesaliko Reservation, Liz's parents, Jeff and Nancy Parker, Max and Isabel's parents, Phillip and Diane Evans, and Alex's parents, Charles and Gloria Whitman, were still waiting at the entrance. The fact that they were not inside the Reservation already was due only to a steadily growing contingent of soldiers armed with AK-47's keeping them out. The moment the first house had been blown up and the parents had seen the smoke, it had been almost impossible for the soldiers to keep them from rushing in, and more guards had quickly had to be called.**

**But as the day had worn on, the parents had become only a small part of the soldiers' concerns. Unknown to anyone inside but the army, the scene had become almost as chaotic outside the Reservation as inside it. Since Diane's newscast, a huge throng of screaming people, many with protest signs, had descended on the Reservation trying to get in and demanding an end to the attack. In addition, at least a dozen other news teams were now present outside the Reservation, each fully equipped with extension cameras and the latest satellite broadcast equipment. The contingent of armed soldiers had been increased several times, as people continued to show up in cars, on motorcycles, and by almost every other possible means. The continuing explosions and smoke coming from inside the Reservation only served to send many of those outside the entrance into a frenzy, and it was almost a miracle that, up till now, no one had been shot and the soldiers had managed to keep everyone out. But that was all about to change.**

**It will probably never be known who was the first to see it; many of those in the crowd looked up at the same time, as did the soldiers who were guarding the entrance. At first, it had only seemed to be a cloud passing in front of the sun; but soon it became very clear that it was not. The object approaching from the sky in the east was enormous and seemed to have no end. As far as anyone could see in that direction, nothing else was visible. It appeared to have a classic saucer shape, but that was hard to tell for sure, because at this point, no one could actually see the other end of it. The noise level among the crowd diminished to a stunned hush, and for several long moments, no sound was heard except for the soft whisper of the wind blowing around the ship as it drew nearer.**

**The eerie silence was broken when one of the soldiers guarding the entrance suddenly began firing his AK-47 at the approaching ship. Apparently taking this to be an invitation, the other soldiers began to fire, too, but their bullets had no effect. They simply disappeared into the air. **

**The ship slowed… then stopped, hovering above the soldiers and the crowd for a time like a huge low cloud, the lights around its outer lower rim flashing continuously but nothing else happening.**

**Onboard the ship, Max pointed at the view screen. "Do you see that, Michael? There must be several thousand people down there. How are we gonna get the ones we want without bringing a whole lot of others onboard with them?"**

**Michael shook his head.**

**Max turned to Varec. "Can you refine the transporter beam, Varec… enough to pick out the ones we want and not get any others?"**

**"I can refine it… but not that much," Varec replied. "If they're closer than four feet… maybe three… to anyone else, that person will come up, too."**

**"They're all closer than that," Max said, looking at the scene below.**

**"Well, there's another way to do this," Michael said. "Varec, we still have those transporter tag pins in storage, don't we?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Do you have about six of them at least?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Give 'em to me."**

**Varec went to the storage area underneath the console and brought out a handful of tag pins, special tags that would stick to a person's clothing and identify them, and only them, as the ones to be transported. Michael took the pins from him.**

**"I'll be back shortly… after I hand these out."**

**Michael left the room and took the ascension chamber to the cargo bay. Then he went to the room where his bike was stored. **

**"Looks like we've got at least one more ride left to do while we're here," Michael said to the bike, as he rolled it to the bay doors. Climbing on and putting his helmet on his head, Michael pressed his remote, and the bay doors opened slightly, just enough for a bike to roll down the ramp and out, falling into the air below. Michael twisted the throttle on the right handlebar, and the motorbike disappeared suddenly into a rift in the air. Several seconds later, another rift opened up, this time behind the crowd below. Michael's bike shot out of the rift, and the rift closed back up with an explosive BOOM that shook the ground and knocked several people off their feet. The crowd hurried to get out of the path of the oncoming bike, though the bike slowed to a more normal speed once it had emerged from the rift. Michael quickly rode through the crowd and handed the tag pins to a stunned Jeff Parker.**

**"Each one of you put one on… you and Mrs. Parker, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, and Mr. and Mrs. Whitman. Sorry I don't have more time to explain. Just do it… quickly. I'll keep the guards over there distracted."**

**Indeed, the guards had been trying to get to Michael, but they didn't want to stray too far from the entrance to do it. If they did, the crowd might get past them. And they didn't want to shoot into the crowd with so many witnesses present. After handing Jeff Parker the tag pins, Michael turned the bike around and quickly headed back out of the throng. Once he was a short distance away, he turned the bike back around and faced everyone again. The crowd parted, instinctively making room for him. Michael twisted the throttle on the handlebar, and the bike shot forward. The soldiers saw it coming and prepared to fire as the bike passed them, but they never got a chance. The air opened up, and the bike rushed into the rift as it passed, surging forward suddenly at an incredible speed and disappearing as it had come… with a tremendous BOOM and a scream like the engines of an F-16 passing by. Culpepper's soldiers, who were standing nearest to the rift, were thrown through the air, most of them losing their weapons as they tried to break their falls. Then the crowd and TV news vans surged forward over and around the soldiers, who could do nothing now but protect themselves from being trampled.**

**Moments later, the bike came out of a rift below the ship, and the transporter beam caught it and transported it into the ship's cargo bay. Michael removed his helmet, then he put the bike back in its place and hurried to contact Max on the intercom.**

**"They're ready."**

**Max looked at Varec, and Varec nodded. With the tag pins on, the individuals that they wanted to transport up could be picked out of the crowd as long as they weren't actually touching anyone else. Varec moved his hand over a sensor on the console, and somewhere in the surging crowd below, six people disappeared and reappeared onboard the New Granolith… to find Michael already waiting for them.**

**"Welcome to our little ship," Michael said, with a touch of obvious understatement. "I know you've got a lot of questions, and I'll be glad to answer all of them for you, but right now someone's waiting to see you."**

**Michael turned around and headed to the ascension chamber, and the six parents followed without a word. At the moment, no one quite knew what to say anyway. When the ascension chamber came to a stop, everyone stepped out to find Varec waiting to accompany them to the bridge with Michael. **

**The first thing they all noticed was the huge window at the front of the bridge. They could see the entire town of Roswell from up here. They could also now see quite clearly the ghastly destruction that had been wreaked on the Mesalikos' homes. But as they walked into the room, they saw something else… the reason they were here.**

**Diane ran to Isabel and hugged her, with Phillip right behind. Charles and Gloria Whitman spotted their son, Alex, and both of them ran to him at once, with Charles trying to check him out to make sure he was okay, as Gloria held him fiercely in a mother's hug. Jeff and Nancy looked around the room and spotted Liz. Well, actually, they saw two Lizzes, but they had no doubt which one was theirs. Both Jeff and Nancy started toward the sofa, but Liz held up her hand and smiled. Jeff and Nancy paused. Liz knew that nothing in the world would make them stay there in that spot for more than a few seconds. She would have to act quickly.**

**Liz put her weight on her feet then stood up and walked… not very fast… but she walked… to them. Jeff and Nancy both threw their arms around Liz and held her tight, as tears ran down their cheeks; and Liz hugged them back, smiling victoriously, as she wiped the tears from her own eyes. **

**"Max healed you!" Jeff exclaimed, finally finding his voice.**

**Liz shook her head. "He tried. Both of them tried. I think it helped. I felt stronger afterwards. But it took something a little more radical to help me walk again."**

**Jeff looked at Liz. "What did they do to you, Lizzie?"**

**"Rahn did it," Liz said, motioning toward Rahn.**

**"The roadrunner," Jeff said, extending his hand to Rahn with a smile. "I didn't know you could heal people, Rahn."**

**"I can't."**

**"Then how did you…" Jeff turned to Liz… "What did he do to you?"**

**"Nothing too drastic, Dad. He sort of taught me how to alter my injury through shape-shifting."**

**"You can do that?" Nancy asked, incredulous.**

**"I thought you had to be born a shape-shifter to be… you know… one of them," Jeff added.**

**"Well, Dad, I haven't turned into a bird or anything. I think that's a little beyond my meager abilities. But I CAN adjust my spine so that it functions normally again. I didn't really want to be a bird anyway."**

**"That's good," Jeff said. "I don't think I would be able to explain that to people. My daughter, the roadrunner!"**

**"And I couldn't hug a roadrunner like this," Nancy said, squeezing Liz tightly. Liz squeezed her back then hugged her Dad.**

**Nearby, the Whitmans were still doting on Alex, somewhat to his embarrassment, but he didn't seem to be complaining. Meanwhile, Phillip Evans had one arm around Max's shoulder, as Isabel tried to tell them everything that she and the others had been through this day, which was starting to seem like a week already. Jim and Amy had already had their reintroduction to Maria, having been transported aboard with the first group earlier; but even so, Amy didn't seem to be finished holding onto Maria or hugging her, and Maria was beginning to think that her Mom might have to be declared an appendage. For now, though, Maria was clearly enjoying it. It was hard to tell how Amy and Maria could understand each other. They were like one body with two heads talking at the same time, but they obviously had the method down to a refined art. It certainly seemed to have the potential to reduce the time needed for a conversation, but in their case, there always seemed to be more to talk about. Perhaps that was why they both talked at the same time… It was the only way they could ever hope to get everything in.**

**Nancy had noticed the other Liz, too, the moment she had walked in; and though she had never had any doubt as to which one was "hers," like Amy, she felt somehow compelled to hug the other one, too. It was a mother's instinct. And they WERE, in a real sense, both hers. She was Liz's mother, and both of them were Liz. **

**There were also two Michaels, two Marias, two Isabels, two Alex's, and two Jim Valenti's. Nancy made a mental note that this had the potential to become very confusing, and she determined that she would have to do something about it if it started to get out of hand. That didn't take too long…**

**Amy, who had been talking with Maria, called Jim over, and both of them came. **

**"I meant my husband," Amy said, smiling at the two Jims. Jim of Antar turned and instinctively called Varec over… then suddenly remembered that this Amy wasn't married to Varec; she was married to his counterpart. Varec, not knowing yet that this Amy was married to Jim, but knowing that his Amy had not come with them, smiled and appeared a bit embarrassed, unsure what to say to Amy. She was, after all, his wife… albeit in another dimension… but this one was not HIS wife. The fact that his counterpart from earth seemed to be a bit too "friendly" with Amy in this dimension, when as far as Varec knew, he was supposed to be married to Kathleen, seemed out of place to Varec… especially when it was with his wife… even if she wasn't HIS wife.**

**Eventually, Jim did explain to Varec that, in this dimension, he was married to Amy. Varec understood better than anyone the fact that different dimensions might not follow the same courses. He had been the one who had said so in the first place. But this was his wife… even if she was not HIS wife. Seeing her holding onto Jim and kissing him was going to take more than a little adjustment to his emotional thought processes if nothing else. **

**Over the course of the next twenty minutes, it became obvious that whenever a name was mentioned, at least half the time, either the wrong one came or both of them came. Isabel from Antar had already offered to settle the matter of which Alex was hers by just taking them both, but her counterpart from earth didn't care much for the idea. Every time either Liz said Maria's name, both Marias would answer or show up, and even Max and Michael seemed to have trouble making it clear which one they wanted to speak to when they spoke to each other. Nancy had had enough…**

**"Stop!"**

**Everybody turned and looked at Nancy, who blushed slightly as she realized that she had just made herself, Nancy Parker, the center of attention.**

**"This is giving me a headache. There are two of so many people here that no one knows who they're talking to… at least I don't." Nancy lowered her voice and said more calmly, "We need to do something about it."**

**Max shrugged. "I didn't really notice. It doesn't bother me."**

**"Me either," Isabel from Antar said, pretending to be absolutely serious… "I already offered to take both Alex's back with me… but miss spoil-sport over there doesn't want to solve the problem."**

**Isabel's double from earth knew how to play this little game as well as her Antarian counterpart did, and she gave the Antarian Isabel a look that reminded her of just one of the reasons she had once been called the "ice princess." Probably no one but Isabel could have called herself that now and got away with it, but both Isabels knew that they were playing a private game… and no one else would have dared to enter into it for all the money on earth and Antar put together.**

**"Max," Nancy said, reclaiming everyone's attention. Immediately, both Max's answered.**

**"See what I mean?" She looked at Max from Antar. "Max, what do they call you on your planet?"**

**"My friends call me Max. Most everyone else calls me Zan."**

**"Alright… then you're Zan." She looked at his counterpart from earth. "And you're going to be Max."  
  
"What are you called on your planet, Michael?"**

**"Rath," Michael said cautiously, knowing where this was going.**

**"Okay, then you're Rath," Nancy said. "And you're Michael," she said to his counterpart from earth.**

**"What is your name on your planet, Isabel?"**

**"Vilandra," Isabel said, not seeming terribly happy with being pegged with that name, though there were those who still called her that on Antar.**

**"So we have Vilandra, and we have Isabel," Nancy said, indicating the two of them. "Jim…" She looked at the Jim from Antar. "You can be James."**

**Jim wrinkled his nose slightly.**

**"Don't you like that name," Nancy asked.**

**"It sounds… formal," Jim said.**

**"Well, what do they call you on Antar?"**

**Jim smiled. "To my face or when I'm not around to hear it?"**

**"What do you prefer?" Nancy asked.**

**Jim shrugged. "To my friends, I'm just Jim. Antarians who know me only by reputation or from TV call me a lot of things."**

**"Like what?"**

**"Jim –ee- pa' ogor, Jim –ee- Eluymer, Jim-Shta' –ee- Genz'ah… and maybe some other things."**

**"What does all that mean?" Nancy asked.**

**"Well, the first one means 'Pawgor Jim,' or literally, Jim the Pawgor man.' It's a long story. The second one means 'Jim the earthman,' the third one, preferred by a lot of Antarians who watch my show, I've heard, means 'Jim, that crazy alien guy.'**

**Nancy raised her eyebrows and smiled. "We can just use the 'Jim –ee-' part. You can be Jimmy."**

**"Can I still be James?" Jim asked. "Now that I think about it, I kind of like James." **

**Nancy nodded then looked at Tess. **

**"Are you Angie Lee, too?"**

**Tess shook her head. "I'm Tess."**

**"Oh. Okay… well, that won't be a problem. She looked at Alex.**

**"Alex!"**

**Alex winced.**

**"Your name is Charles, isn't it?"**

**"Yeah… but Dad's is, too."**

**"Do they call you anything on your planet?"**

**"Not when Iz is around," Alex said, joking. Nancy looked at him seriously, and Alex sighed.**

**"No. I don't have any cute pet names like Jim…"**

**"Like James," Nancy corrected.**

**"Yeah… I meant James… Anyway, I'm just Alex to everybody. Maybe 'Alex –ee- Eluymer.' That just means Alex the earthman."**

**"Maybe we can make you 'Alex E' then, and your counterpart here can just be Alex."**

**"Alex –ee-," Alex repeated. "That would kind of mean 'Alex the Man…' kind of like 'I the stud.' I guess that's cool." Alex noticed Nancy's look of confusion. "Never mind. It was just a password I once used on my computer."**

**"Maria," Nancy said, turning to Maria's Antarian counterpart. "What can we call you?"**

**"Well, I'm kind of partial to Maria," Maria said. "But if we're changing everybody's names, just call me Marisol."**

**"Marisol? Is that alien… what is it… Antarian?"**

**"No, it's Spanish. I just always wondered what it would be like to be a Marisol."**

**Nancy nodded then looked at her own daughter's Antarian counterpart, Liz from Antar. **

**'Zan' smiled.**

**"Uh uh!" Liz said. "Nobody is calling me Queenie! Don't even go there, Max!"**

**"Zan," Nancy corrected.**

**"Zan, Kingy, whatever… I'm not going by Queenie."**

**Nancy smiled in spite of herself. "Okay, what can we call you that will set the two of you apart, honey? I can't call you my 'earth daughter' and my 'alien daughter.'"**

**"You can call me Elizabeth and her Liz."**

**Nancy nodded. "Okay." She looked around. "I think that covers everyone. Now maybe we can keep everyone straight around here."**

**'Zan' looked at 'Elizabeth' and whispered, "Why do I think it's not going to be so simple?"**

**'Elizabeth' smiled and gave him a kiss. "Give her a day… maybe two… She'll forget all about this silly name stuff. She's my Mom… I know her… even if she is from another dimension."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Culpepper makes a fatal mistake when he pulls a "Star Wars" stunt to try to destroy the New Granolith, and the Mesaliko Reservation comes under attack again, this time by a unit of the National Guard and by thousands of irate citizens… but they are not interested in killing aliens or blowing up Mesaliko homes.**


	32. Dreams31

**The Night The Dreams Died**

**The Invasion Of Roswell, Part II**

**Judgment Day**

**Chapter 31**

**XXXI******

**Onboard the Antarian mothership, all the anguish, uncertainty, fears, and hardships of the last six months, since graduation day, and of this past day in particular… had finally and conclusively turned to long overdue joy. Families and friends were finally reunited, and some of those onboard were having the additional pleasant, even if confusing and somewhat eerie, experience of getting acquainted with their own doubles from an entirely different dimension and planet. Below the Antarian mothership, however, on the Mesaliko Reservation, the situation was beginning to heat up again. After the soldiers guarding the gate had fallen when Michael blasted by them on his motorbike, the crowd outside had surged ahead. There literally had been nothing the soldiers could do to stop it. Even if they could have found their guns in time, among all the charging bodies, and had fired them continuously, they still would not have been able to stop most of the surging crowd from getting in. The best they could do was to protect themselves from being trampled to death until the stampede passed.**

**And the situation on the Reservation was no longer strictly a local phenomenon. Diane's earlier broadcast had now been seen by millions – more likely tens or even hundreds of millions - as it was played and replayed by station KUVA all morning long and then picked up by the Associated Press and broadcast worldwide throughout the afternoon. The stream of vehicles pouring into Roswell since Diane's first broadcast had increased steadily throughout the day and had begun to take on all the atmosphere of a circus in the last few hours, with everyone from the expected curiosity seekers, protesters, and UFO and conspiracy buffs to lawyers showing up in droves. For some reason that no one seemed to know, two vans from Greenpeace even showed up.**

**If the soldiers who had been trying to keep the crowd out of the Reservation were having a bad day, though, they weren't the only ones. In Washington, D.C., a three-way conversation was going on at this very moment among the President, a General Otis Kingsley in Texas, and a National Guard Unit Commander, Colonel Alvin Brighton, in Alabama.**

**"Your name is on the papers signing off on these maneuvers, General Kingsley. You approved them."**

**"Yes, sir, Mr. President."**

**"What exactly is going on down there in Roswell, General? I have a man with me in my office right now, an Agent Daniel Klein, who is part of the Special Task Force down there, and he brought me video and other evidence suggesting an ongoing massacre on the Indian Reservation; yet General Haggerty and General Hawkins, who are in Roswell, both maintain that it is a training mission and that the Mesaliko Indians are in no danger. They maintain that the Mesalikos have gone along with the training exercise and are being paid for the use of their Reservation. **

**"Yes, sir, Mister President. The papers were hastily prepared, I know, but the plan was submitted through the normal channels… though it was expedited a bit along the way because of the importance of the maneuvers."**

**"What were the special circumstances, General?"**

**"According to the situation briefing that I received, this training mission was to be a simulated preemptive strike on a terrorist network in a remote desert location. The situation briefing said that it was in response to a perceived threat from terrorists on the border of Afghanistan who are believed to be planning an attack on our nation with chemical or small nuclear weapons."**

**"I've seen the briefings on these cells, General… but I was unaware of this training mission before Mr. Klein informed me of it. Why was I kept out of the loop on this?"**

**"Training exercises do not require presidential notification, Mr. President, with all due respect, sir."**

**"Of course not, General. But exercises that involve special circumstances do… and destroying homes on a reservation strikes me as a very special circumstance, doesn't it to you?" **

**"Uh… yes, sir, it does. It would have been General Haggerty's responsibility to submit the briefing to you, sir, but I understand that this mission was put together quickly to simulate the need for a quick response. It's possible that you haven't seen it yet, Mr. President."**

**"I HAVEN'T seen it, General, and I have no briefing regarding it. Are you aware that right now the A.P. is broadcasting footage of this mission worldwide?"**

**"No, sir!"**

**"Are you aware that most of the houses on the Mesaliko Reservation have been destroyed in this so-called training mission?"**

**"No, sir!"**

**"Are you aware of the claims that are being made by the Associated Press that this is a grudge mission… put together by the head of the Alien Task Force in Roswell, a special agent who goes by the name Culpepper, and is actually retribution against the Mesalikos for hiding an… uh… alien?"**

**"No, sir. An alien, sir? From what country?"**

**"Not another country, General… an alien alien… from out there somewhere. That's what's being reported by the A.P. They're quoting a local newswoman who made the claim earlier in the day and who has since disappeared along with her entire news crew. I want you to find out immediately exactly what IS going on on that reservation; and Colonel Brighton…"**

**"Yes, Mr. President."**

**"I want YOU to get a fighter squadron ready… in case we need it to end this… uh, situation quickly and we have to convince General Haggerty or this Agent Culpepper that it's not merely a request we're making."**

**"Any particular squadron, sir?"**

**"I had one in mind, Colonel, yes."**

**"I'll have them ready, Mr. President. Do you think that will be necessary, sir… against our own people?"**

**"I think we need to assure the peace on that reservation, Colonel… whatever that involves or requires. I'm hopeful that no force will be necessary, but if what is being reported is even partially true, we may need to show at least the resolve to use force if required in order to convince Generals Haggerty and Hawkins and their special agent of our intentions. Haggerty, in particular, has been known to be a bit… let's say, obsessive in the past, and from what I'm being told, this Special Agent Culpepper from the Task Force is even more so. And General Hawkins was involved in an attempted cover-up of an incident two years ago in which one of his units caused some minor damage in a civilian area. We will need to get a team in there and check out the Reservation to determine to what extent the reports might be true… if they're true… and I do not want General Haggerty or General Hawkins or this Special Agent Culpepper destroying or altering any of the evidence before we can get in there. We may also need to protect the reservation from unintentional damage by well-intentioned people. Have you seen the news?"**

**"No, sir. I was in a meeting all morning, Mr. President."**

**"Well, watch it, Colonel. Both of you watch it. Be aware of what we're up against."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**"And General Kingsley."**

**"Yes, Mr. President."**

**"Get an AWAC plane up over that area STAT. I want recon photos of anything unusual going on there."**

**"Yes, sir."**

**                                    ************

**As fate would have it, at the same time as the President was talking with General Kingsley in Texas and Colonel Brighton in Alabama, Special Agent Culpepper was holding a three-way conference of his own…**

**"Yes, General Hawkins, sir, I understand that I am in charge of the Alien Task Force's Special Unit at this time and I'm supposed to be handling this, but we have a major situation here, SIR! There is a bona-fide, major UFO sitting directly over the Mesaliko Reservation and part of Roswell right now, and I don't have the firepower I need to bring it down! I really need some reinforcements down here… STAT!"**

**There was a short pause, then a frustrated General Hawkins' voice came back over the intercom… "Listen, Barker, try to understand this… General Haggerty and I have given you Cobra helicopters, we've given you tanks… even some of our F-16 fighter jets with conventional missiles… but there is no way I'm giving you a nuclear missile! This is already going to take a lot of cleaning up before I can… uh… report this… uh… incident. The collateral damage from a nuclear missile would be my swan song."**

**"But we're talking about a UFO, General! And not just any little UFO! This is NOT that little tin toy that you had in lock down in Area 51, sir. We're talking a monster truck here versus… a… a Yugo. This thing is three miles across, and our missiles don't even penetrate its defensive shield or whatever's protecting it. It just sits up there… impervious to all our weapons… mocking us! Mocking ME!" **

**"Barker, if you did bring this thing down where it is now, wouldn't it fall on the Reservation?"**

**"There's nothing there to worry about, General… not anymore. Besides, it might help to explain what happened to the… uh… Indians who used to be there… with a little special preparation and clean-up… You know what I'm saying? We can put a few bodies under the ship… inside whatever's left of the houses…"  
  
  
**

**There was another pause on the line. "Yeah… yeah, I understand you, but… what about Roswell? You said it was over Roswell, too. How do we explain half the city getting crushed under this thing?"**

**"We don't have to explain it, General! For God's sake! Shit happens! We were just protecting the nation… THE WORLD!… from an alien attack. We'll get medals!"**

**General Hawkins sighed audibly and drummed his fingers on his desk for several long moments as he thought about it. "I don't know, Barker. It sounds dangerous… to ME! I'll consult with General Haggerty. We'll get back to you."**

**General Hawkins hung up the line, leaving Barker, alias Agent Culpepper, frustrated… especially in view of the fact that he was pretty certain that the firepower he had requested was not going to be forthcoming. General Hawkins had considered it. He was almost convinced. But there was that little element of danger. No. He wouldn't be giving Culpepper the weapons he was requesting. Culpepper was sure of that. He couldn't expect Haggerty to come through for him either. In the end, someone doesn't become a general, Culpepper told himself, without covering his ass pretty well… and this would almost be like streaking in church for them. The danger of exposure was too great. Culpepper, on the other hand, had no such qualms or concerns to bother him. The protection of the whole world was in his hands now.**

**                                     ************

**"Climb out of the plane," Agent Culpepper yelled up to the pilot of the F-16 preparing to taxi to the runway. The pilot pulled back his canopy and removed his helmet, then he powered down his jet.**

**"What's going on?" **

**"I need your plane," Culpepper said. "I've been ordered to use this one for a special mission."**

**"I wasn't told anything," the pilot said.**

**"This is very hush-hush, Lieutenant. I expect you to keep it that way. You guys haven't been able to dent that UFO with your missiles. General Haggerty wants me to try something else."**

**"It won't do any good," the pilot said, shaking his head. "We've fired thousands of rounds and at least twenty missiles at that thing. It all just disappear into thin air. That ship's impervious. It doesn't even know we're attacking it. It would take a nuke to bring it down."**

**"That's what I told the general," Culpepper said. **

**"A nuke?"**

**"The general wouldn't give me one. I had to come up with something just as good. Lieutenant, did you ever watch Star Wars… you know, the original movie?"**

**"Yeah… I saw it several times. I've got all the episodes on DVD."**

**"Remember the Death Star?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Remember how they destroyed it?"**

**"Yeah. Luke shot a missile into a small vent that went to the reactor in the core."**

**"Right. And when the Death Star was being rebuilt in the third movie, they destroyed that one by flying one of those X-Wings right into the inside of the thing, firing into the reactor, and flying back out before it all blew up."**

**"Yeah. I remember that," the pilot said.**

**"Well, Lieutenant, there's been an AWAC up there taking recon photos of that ship and the area and transmitting them back. I assume General Hawkins or General Haggerty sent it up. Look at these recon photos that have been coming in. Do you see anything?"**

**"I see one monster UFO," the pilot said. **

**"Do you see this vent… right here?" Culpepper pointed to a part of the picture.**

**"You're going to fire a missile into that?" The pilot looked unconvinced.**

**"It's a bigger opening than it looks like in the photo, Lieutenant. That opening is big enough to fly a fighter jet into… and back out again."**

**The pilot shook his head. "Uh uh… It may be big enough to fly into, but where are you going to turn around? You don't even know what's in there?"**

**"The reactor's in there, Lieutenant. Recon has confirmed it. It's emitting some kind of ions from the vent that can only come from a reactor. It's not nuclear, but it should blow up with one helluva a bang just the same. There's a similar vent on the other side of the ship. That's a distance of three miles… one and a half in… fire my missiles… then one and a half out the other side. This F-16 can cover that distance in under 30 seconds. It should be enough time for me to get out before the whole thing goes up."**

**"You're crazy," the pilot said, shaking his head. "Did General Hawkins approve this?"**

**"General Haggerty ordered it," Culpepper lied.**

**The pilot breathed a deep breath and let it out slowly again. "Well, I guess he knows what he's doing… but I wouldn't want to fly into that thing and shoot a missile into its reactor… whatever it is… then try to get back out again."**

**"Nobody's asking you to, Lieutenant. I flew one of these planes for several years before I became part of the Unit. I'm taking this ride."**

**"I'm glad it's you and not me," the pilot said honestly, stepping out of the way, as Culpepper climbed into the pilot's seat and powered the F-16 up again. Moments later, Culpepper taxied the F-16 to the end of the runway… then the plane's engines roared, as the jet rushed down the runway and lifted into the air, banking into the sun and heading off in the direction of the Reservation and Roswell.**

**The pilot watched his plane disappear then walked into the airmen's barracks and set his helmet down on a table.**

**"I thought you were flying," a voice behind him said.**

**The pilot turned around, and a young airman handed him a cup of coffee.**

**"Thanks. Yeah, I was, but apparently the General had other ideas."**

**"Ah, yes! He can be like that."**

**"Weren't you on the first recon mission… the one that just got back," the lieutenant asked the young airman.**

**"Yep… We got a great bird's eye view of that thing. It's huge! I can only wonder how they make it just sit up there like that."**

**The lieutenant nodded. "So the primary propulsion it uses isn't nuclear, huh?"**

**The airman raised his eyebrows a notch and shook his head. "How'd you know that?"**

**"Somebody told me. What kind of reactor does it use?"**

**The airman breathed in deeply then exhaled softly. "Anti-matter."**

**tbc**


	33. Dreams32

The Night The Dreams Died 

****

**Culpepper's Last Flight**

**Chapter 32**

**XXXII******

****

**The lieutenant's face turned ashy white, and he appeared to reel. He ran one hand through his hair nervously then laid it on the back of the chair beside him. The young airman noticed that the knuckles of the lieutenant's hand were turning white as he held onto the back of the chair; and realizing that something was very, very wrong, he turned several shades lighter himself… "What? What's the matter?"**

****

**"Barker's going to fire a missile into an anti-matter reactor in that UFO up there… with my plane," Strickland said, trying to sound calmer than he actually was. "If he does… it'll be the end of… maybe the world… but at least this hemisphere. Do you know what even a small amount of destabilized anti-matter could do?"**

****

**The airman shook his head. "Maybe they have a secure containment field or something around their reactor."**

****

**"Maybe," the lieutenant agreed, "but I can't take that chance… the WORLD can't take that chance. I've got to get to a radio."**

****

**Lieutenant Strickland ran from the airmen's barracks and jumped into a small truck that was sitting in front of the barracks with the keys still in it, then he drove across the airfield to the control tower. As fast as he could, he ran up the stairs and knocked desperately on the door. He heard the electronic latch unlock, and one of the controllers opened the door.**

****

**"Lieutenant?"**

****

**"I need to come in."**

****

**The controller moved aside to let Lieutenant Strickland enter then immediately turned his attention back to the UFO on the horizon. It was clearly visible in the distance from the tower, and both of the controllers were watching it intently with something akin to deep awe, even though it sat quite a few miles away from the airfield or the base itself, over the Mesaliko Reservation and the town of Roswell. **

****

**"I don't have time to explain," Strickland said, grabbing for the microphone. He needn't have bothered. The two controllers weren't paying any attention to anything that he was doing. Strickland pressed the button to speak…**

****

**"Barker! Barker, come in!"**

****

**There was no answer. Strickland called again, but Barker was apparently not answering his radio. He probably had it turned off. That would be something Barker would do. That way if he was ordered back to base he could say that he never heard the order and blame Strickland with leaving his radio turned off.**

****

**"Dammit, Barker, come in!" Strickland yelled over the radio one more time. For a moment, he seemed to despair… but then he turned to the controllers…**

****

**"Has anyone tried to contact that ship up there?"**

****

**"What for," the younger of the two controllers asked, with a tone of amusement in his voice. "We don't have anyone on the base who speaks Martian."**

****

**"Did it ever occur to you that maybe they might understand US," Lieutenant Strickland asked, turning the frequency dial to scan for any possible signal source.**

****

**"What would we say to them," the second controller asked.**

****

**"You might try, 'hello!'" Strickland said with a tone of obvious irritation in his own voice.**

****

**Strickland picked up the mike and pressed the button again…**

****

**"This is… uh… this is Lieutenant David Strickland… If anyone can hear me on that ship… this is important. Come back… I mean, uh… reply!"**

****

**Strickland turned the dial several times, each time repeating his message again, then a few moments later, he got an unexpected surprise…**

****

**"Go ahead, Lieutenant Strickland. We're listening."**

****

**Both controllers looked at each other, their eyes wide.**

****

**Strickland pressed the button on the mike again… "Uh… okay, we, uh… we have… well, YOU have… WE ALL, I guess, have an emergency situation here. One of our agents is going to fly a fighter jet into a large vent on your ship. He intends to fire a missile into the reactor as he flies through the core. Do you understand me?"**

****

**There was silence on the radio. For a moment, Lieutenant Strickland's heart sank into his stomach. Maybe they hadn't understood anything he had said. What had made him think that they would understand him anyway? They probably didn't even know what a jet was… or a missile… at least not by those names. And Barker… or Culpepper, as he preferred to call himself, would be getting there very soon… if he wasn't there already.**

****

**"Lieutenant," a voice came back over the air finally, "I have someone here who is qualified to discuss the risks with you."**

****

**"I am Varec," a different voice said, with an accent that the lieutenant couldn't place. The other voice had sounded… well, now that he thought about it, almost American… perhaps even New Mexican. This new one, though, was different somehow… maybe Canadian. No. Not Canadian… Definitely not Canadian… **

****

**"Mister Varec," Lieutenant Strickland said, shaking himself out of his thoughts and back to the matters at hand, "your ship and our world are in danger. If Agent Barker flies into your ship's vent and fires a missile into your anti-matter reactor… and manages to blow it up… it could destroy not only your ship but potentially half of our world."**

****

**"You are well-informed," the voice from the ship above said.**

****

**"And desperate," Strickland said sternly. "There's no time. Barker may be there already."**

****

**"Wouldn't the outflow of air push anything back out of the vent," Strickland heard the first voice ask the one named Varec.**

****

**"A bird, yes, Zan… maybe even a small plane," Varec replied… "but probably not a slip-stream… what you call a 'jet.' It has enough power and speed to fly into our vent, but I do not think that it could fly through the containment area in the core."**

****

**"I hope you're right," the first voice said… "because I think I see it coming now."**

****

**Max, Michael, Varec, Liz, Alex, Isabel, Maria, and the others who were currently on the bridge crowded nearer to the huge front window of the ship to catch a glimpse of the fast approaching fighter jet.**

****

**"Strickland," Varec said, "Warn your pilot not to enter the core! He will not survive."**

****

**In the pilot's seat of the approaching F-14 fighter jet, Barker, alias Agent Culpepper, sat transfixed, gazing at the huge mothership ahead of him with a single-minded, blind fanaticism and a trace of a smile on his face. He never really entertained the thought that anything could go wrong with his plan. Of course, somewhere deep inside his mind, he knew that it could… but there was a certain arrogant self-assuredness about Culpepper that wouldn't allow him to seriously consider failure. He was sure of himself. He was sure of his abilities. He was sure of his plan. **

****

**Barker aligned the F-14 Tomcat with the huge spaceship's oval-shaped starboard vent and adjusted his speed and flaps slightly, rotating the plane's adjustable wings out just a bit for stability as he slowed the jet's forward speed to make any final course adjustments. The plane wobbled ever so slightly as it continued to speed toward the opening. Seeing himself right on course, Barker increased the throttle to full and turned on the afterburners. **

****

**Strickland pressed the button on his mike to warn Culpepper away, but it was already too late. At that moment, Barker's fully-armed F-14 Tomcat flew straight into the starboard vent at full throttle and with afterburners blazing. Max looked at Varec then at Michael. Both of them stood there silently… waiting.**

****

**It was exactly as Barker had imagined it inside the huge oval-shaped vent… The passage was easily sixty feet high… probably a bit more… and it was wider than four F-14 Tomcats placed wing to wing, not enough room to turn a jet around in but certainly enough for any crack pilot like himself to fly through. Barker's F-14 Tomcat, by comparison, was sixteen feet high and had a wingspan of 64 feet, 1.5 inches "spread," which is at their maximum span. The wings can be drawn back into the "swept" position, which reduces their span to only 38 feet, 2.5 inches, or "overswept" position, which reduces them almost another five feet, to 33 feet, 3.5 inches.**

****

**As Barker flew into the huge vent, he did notice a significant amount of air resistance. His plane's airspeed dropped by about one fourth as it encountered the outflow of air coming from the core. It felt a bit like driving a car into a strong headwind. But Barker was not concerned. At full speed or three quarters speed, his success, he was absolutely positive, was assured. The plane's afterburners would push him through the heavy outflow of air on the way in and onward to the core. There, he would fire his missiles… then the rushing outflow of air on the other side of the ship would actually provide him with a tailwind, helping him to get out before the ship exploded, as he exited with the airflow. It was a sweet plan.**

****

**What Barker, alias Culpepper, did not know was that the reactor was actually well protected and totally impervious to any of his missiles. But more important than that, to Culpepper, would have been the knowledge that the reactor was cooled by forced air flowing around the inside of the entire core at a speed greater than that of any hurricane ever known on earth. In a sense, this was a ship that actually breathed. When they were not in space, air was sucked in literally through every centimeter of the skin of the ship and diverted into the core where it flowed around the reactor many times before being vented out through the huge vents. The system was very efficient… but incredibly violent, wind-wise, within the core itself. In the vacuum of space, the air was unnecessary to protect the reactor.**

****

**As Culpepper flew Strickland's F-14 Tomcat ever deeper into the enormous passageway inside the vent, heading toward the core of the mothership, Max and the others braced themselves for… they weren't quite sure what. But Varec knew. It was he, after all, who had designed the ship… and he had helped to build it. Approximately forty seconds after entering the vent… a bit longer than expected due to the heavy air flow being vented from the core… Culpepper was approaching his expected target. Then he saw the huge, swirling storm circling the core ahead of him. It looked like a half-mile-wide monster tornado. There was no way around it. Belatedly realizing what he was flying right into, Culpepper instinctively pressed his right foot hard to the floor in a brief moment of sheer panic, but there was no brake pedal. **

****

**Suddenly and with total clarity, if only for a brief second, Culpepper realized that he was doomed. **

****

**The fighter jet slammed into the howling 3000-mile-per-hour winds with the force of a train wreck, and the winds slammed the jet to the side like a sledgehammer hitting a fly, exploding the plane's already armed missiles one after the other. What was left… because it could no longer be identified as a jet… tumbled around the core with the wind, as it continued to break into smaller and smaller pieces. Within a matter of mere seconds, it had been reduced to tiny motes of flotsam barely large enough to even recognize. These circled the core a few hundred times at 3000 miles per hour before being ejected from the starboard and port vents and fluttering to the ground below like a million tiny silvery butterflies sparkling and glinting in the sunlight of a bright new day. **

****

**In a way, the silvery, glistening confetti falling in streams from the ship's vents was almost beautiful. As for Culpepper, his body had either been pounded into oblivion by the winds and by the unexpected premature explosions of his own missiles or simply absorbed by the anti-matter reactor… in which case, Culpepper may ironically actually have provided a millisecond or two of extra energy to the ship that he had sought to destroy.**

****

**Varec swallowed nervously but was clearly unsurprised when no one onboard felt so much as a bump… even as all the missiles of the fighter jet blew up one-by-one inside the core. Fortunately, the explosions were effectively damped by the ferocious winds and caused no damage whatever to the ship or to the reactor.**

****

**"What's going on there," the voice of Lieutenant Strickland crackled over the radio. "What's happening?" **

****

**"I believe you will need to replace your… jet," Varec said simply, in total seriousness… "and your agent."**

****

**There was a momentary silence over the radio before Strickland replied.**

****

**"Then the world is safe… and I take it, you are, too."**

****

**"We are all safe," Varec said, confirming Strickland's statement.**

****

**"Good," Strickland said simply, his voice a bit shaky but seeming sincere. "That's good."**

****

**"Lieutenant Strickland," the southwestern-sounding voice of the one named Zan said, returning once again to the air… "Thank you."**

****

**"For what?" Strickland asked, genuinely unassuming. "I didn't do anything… well, nothing that helped anyone."**

****

**"You did. You warned us. If we had needed to stop your agent, we could have done so… because of your warning… but it wasn't necessary for us to take extraordinary, uh, 'measures' to stop him. The reactor is quite safe when the ship is in the atmosphere… because of the cooling winds that blow around it… and in space, where it doesn't need to be cooled, it's still well protected, I assure you, even without the winds. I am sorry about your… your loss, though."**

****

**Strickland sighed. "Yes… that was a fine plane… an F-14 Tomcat."**

****

**"Yeah… well… I was referring to the pilot, actually," Zan replied.**

****

**"Culpepper?" Strickland exclaimed impulsively, momentarily sounding unexpectedly shocked. "Yeah well… thanks… but he knew what he was doing. That's the problem really. He did know what he was doing… and he would have destroyed the world."**

****

**"Lieutenant Strickland."**

****

**"Yes?"**

****

**"There are a good many other jets… and helicopters… still flying around our ship. You may want to warn them of what will happen if any of them has any idea about flying through the core like your agent did."**

****

**"I don't think that will be necessary," Strickland said, actually managing a slight smile, "I think they got the message… It's still streaming out of your vents."**

****

**"Our systems are showing more jets approaching from the east, Lieutenant. Are they planning to attack the reservation… or us? Their pilots may not be aware of what happened to your Agent."**

****

**Lieutenant Strickland seemed surprised by this information. He glanced at the radar screen and saw that indeed not one but possibly even two squadrons were approaching the area. They were still about sixty miles out, but that was only a few brief minutes for a modern fighter jet like the F-14 Tomcat, F-16 Fighting Falcon, or F/A-18 Hornet. Strickland motioned to one of the controllers…**

****

**"Find out where those jets are coming from. Warn them not to enter restricted air space."**

****

**The controller nodded without answering and put on his headphones. Then he checked his equipment.**

****

**"They're coming from Alabama… and from Texas… two different squadrons."**

****

**"Can you contact them?"**

****

**"I'm trying. They're not answering."**

****

**"Give me the mike," Strickland said, picking up the other microphone again… **

****

**"This is Lieutenant David Strickland… to the squadrons heading toward Roswell from Alabama and Texas. Unless you turn now, your vectored course will take you over a high security area that is off-limits to anyone who does not have specific clearance… even if you are military. If you do not turn back or I do not receive the proper clearance, I will be forced to have you brought down."**

****

**There was a momentary pause, then a voice came back over the air…**

****

**"Lieutenant Strickland… this is, uh, 'Eagle Scout'… with Bravo Squadron out of Dannelly NGB… in Alabama. Where is General Hawkins? He was supposed to pass on our orders to the control tower."**

****

**Strickland looked at the two young air traffic controllers with him in the tower, and they both shrugged.**

****

**"We haven't seen him… He didn't give us any orders."**

****

**Strickland pressed the button on his mike. "That's a good question, Eagle Scout. I haven't seen the general today. No one I know of has. I'll have to confirm your clearance personally. Do not enter restricted airspace until I have confirmed you."**

****

**Strickland picked up the nearby phone and hastily dialed a number. He listened, then moments later, he set the phone down.**

****

**"You didn't say anything," the younger controller said.**

****

**"I didn't have to," Lieutenant Strickland replied. "There are… channels that you don't know of."**

****

**Strickland pressed the button again on his microphone…**

****

**"Eagle Squadron and Bravo Squadron, you are both cleared for approach. Is there anything I can do for you, sir?"**

****

**"I think you're doing it, Lieutenant. It looks like you're right where you're needed."**

****

**"Yes, sir… uh… is it your intent, sir… if I may ask… to attack that, uh, spaceship up there? If it is, I have to tell you something. It wouldn't be advisable. Besides, I don't think they're here as aggressors. I think they're basically friendly."**

****

**"So I've been told, Lieutenant. I'm counting on that. The purpose of our visit is to help straighten things out down there… with the native Americans on the Mesaliko Reservation… and, hopefully, with our special visitors… up there."**

****

**"Yes, sir!" Lieutenant Strickland replied, his voice taking on a brighter and more hopeful tone. "Sir, there are three squadrons of F-16's, F-14's, and F/A-18's… and, I believe, nine Cobra helicopters… currently engaged in… 'maneuvers' in the area of the reservation… and around the 'visitors' ship, in particular…"**

****

**"We want those maneuvers stopped, Lieutenant… immediately! General Hawkins was ordered to terminate this operation."**

****

**"Uh… doesn't appear that he did so, sir."**

****

**"Yeah… That's the information we received, too, Lieutenant. That's why we needed to get some special units in there to straighten things out. And Lieutenant…"**

****

**"Yes, sir."**

****

**"Temporarily… you are in charge there."**

****

**"I don't think anyone will listen to me, sir. I'm a lieutenant… General Hawkins far outranks me."**

****

**"Then we'll have to make you a general, too."**

****

**"Excuse me?"**

****

**"You heard me… You're in charge, General Strickland! Your first order is to stop those 'maneuvers' at the reservation and any harassment of that ship. Our ETA is eight minutes. Any planes still involved in 'maneuvers' on the Mesaliko Reservation or in the vicinity of that ship when we arrive WILL be forced down or back to base… or destroyed. Please make that very clear to them. That operation is OVER!"**

****

**"Yes, sir!"**

****

**Strickland immediately picked up the mike and turned the frequency to the channel used by the fighter pilots.**

****

**"All pilots involved in 'Operation Seeing Red'… Culpepper is no longer your immediate superior. Actually, I think he's no longer… at all. In addition, General Hawkins has been relieved of his authority over these 'maneuvers' and over this base, and you have been ordered to cease operations immediately and return to base. This order comes from the highest levels. Any failure to obey immediately will be dealt with by forcing you into compliance… by any means deemed necessary. This is Lieu… uh… General Strickland. If anyone has any question about these orders, address them to me at the base after you have returned. I repeat… Operation Seeing Red is over! Return to base immediately!"**

****

**Strickland set the microphone down and looked at the two controllers, who looked back at him with something close to the awe with which they had been watching the UFO earlier…**

****

**"General…?"**

****

**Strickland nodded and shrugged. "That's what the man said."**

****

**"How many stars?"**

****

**Strickland smiled. "I don't know. He didn't say. I'd guess one… I only became a general today."**

****

**Strickland picked up the microphone again and adjusted the frequency to where he had found the spaceship before… then he pressed the button.**

****

**"Zan… Varec… This is Lieutenant Strickland… uh, I mean, General Strickland. I was just put in charge of everything that is going on here, and I've recalled the fighter jets and other units to base. They should give you no more problems."**

****

**"General…?"**

****

**"Uh, yeah… I'll tell you about it sometime… if we ever meet."**

****

**"That could be arranged, General. Are you interested?"**

****

**Strickland choked momentarily.**

****

**"I… well, yeah… I am… but I'm in charge here… I can't…"**

****

**"Go for it," a voice broke in over the radio.**

****

**"Who is this?" Strickland asked.**

****

**"Eagle Scout here. General, you have a unique opportunity to learn more about our, uh, visitors… and what we can do for each other. Go for it… if you're game that is."**

****

**"Yes, sir!" Strickland said.**

****

**"I guess you heard, Zan."**

****

**"We heard. I'll pick you up."**

****

**The message ended. Strickland looked at the UFO on the distant horizon. It was huge. Even from this far away, it looked somewhat like a beautiful, multiple-level, super large Frisbee just hanging there in the sky. But as Strickland and the two controllers watched, the UFO began to move toward them. They watched it grow larger and larger surprisingly quickly… it took only fifteen seconds to reach the base, and that was at nothing near its potential speed. None of the three men in the control tower had actually realized just how large the ship really was. Now that it was closer, they saw that it was a complete city floating in the air. The ship may have been only three miles across, but it looked to the three men like all of fifteen, at least, as it approached. Finally, the 'city in the sky' floated directly over the control tower, blocking out the sun from above. In every direction they looked, the three men could see only the ship above them. About a mile and a half away, they could just make out the edge of the ship where the sunlight peeked around and under it from above. In total amazement, the two controllers turned back to look at Strickland… but at that moment, he disappeared in front of their eyes.**

****

****

****

****

****

**"Welcome to our little spaceship, General," Zan said, holding out his hand and smiling. Michael and Varec stood beside him…**

****

**"I am Varec," Varec said, offering his own hand in turn.**

****

**"I'm Michael… Some people call me Rath," Michael said, extending his hand to Strickland after Varec. **

****

**"Rath is our General in charge of all the armies," Varec noted.**

****

**"How many armies do you have," Strickland asked impulsively.**

****

**Michael smiled. "Just one."**

****

**"But if we had more, he'd be in charge of them," Zan said.**

****

**Strickland smiled and nodded, looking around…**

****

**"This is really an amazing ship. It's so huge inside."**

****

**"This is just the cargo bay," Zan said, motioning Strickland to come with them. "The ship has seven levels. This is the lowest level, level 1. There are thirty-two rooms, or compartments, around the perimeter of the cargo bay, and each one has something in it that we need or that we are storing. One of your planes is in one of them. Level 2 is the dining room and galley. There is also a separate recycling and processing sector on level 2. Level 3 is the living quarters, lounge, and game rooms; level 4 is the bridge and control deck… and the engine rooms; level 5 is the gardens, where we grow all our food; level 6 is the arboretum, where our oxygen is produced while in space; and level 7 is the observatory. I think that covers it, doesn't it Michael?"**

****

**Michael nodded.**

****

**Zan placed his hand momentarily over a handprint on the wall and opened the glass ascension chamber.**

****

**"After you, General."**

****

**Strickland swallowed but stepped into the chamber. To his relief, Zan, Rath, and Varec followed him in. Then the chamber began to rise. After a few seconds, it stopped and the door reopened.**

****

**"After you," Zan said again, inviting Strickland to step out. Zan, Rath, and Varec led Strickland to the bridge, and again Zan opened the door by placing his hand briefly over a handprint on the wall. As the door opened, Strickland immediately was treated to a view of the entire area around the base through the huge windows on the bridge. It was breathtaking. A pilot himself, Strickland was used to seeing this view from the air, but he had never seen it before while standing perfectly still in a city that floated in the sky. This somehow gave it a whole new perspective. Strickland turned around to speak to Zan and saw that there were other people in the room, too… not only men… but women… and they didn't look very alien to him.**

****

**Liz smiled and held out her hand. "Hi! I'm Liz. I'm Max's… uh…" She cast a quick glance at Nancy, her younger double's mother… "I mean, Zan's wife… and I'm, uh, Elizabeth… She's Liz." She motioned toward the younger Liz. **

****

**Strickland smiled back at both of them and noticed that a good number of the others in the room seemed to have doubles as well.**

****

**"I'm, uh, David… uh… General David Strickland… at your service, ma'am."**

****

**"This is Maria," 'Elizabeth' said, introducing her best friend, and that's… well, that's… Maria, too." Liz cleared her throat nervously. "We're supposed to call her Marisol… just to keep them straight."**

****

**Strickland nodded. "Do all your people come in two's? I can imagine that would be a problem… although I can think of some benefits, too."**

****

**'Elizabeth' laughed. "No, we don't come in two's. Some of us are from a different dimension. That's why there are two of some of us. I would explain it to you, but we don't totally understand it ourselves." **

****

**"So you're from a different planet… and a different dimension?"**

****

**"Elizabeth is being modest," Varec interjected. "She knows more about physics and science than anyone else here."**

****

**"Oh, yeah! Now who's being modest?" Elizabeth laughed. "I certainly don't know more than you, Varec!"**

****

**"Well, in a few more years you may… if I can't find something else to learn before then," Varec said, only half joking… "and if you keep learning at the rate you've been learning and gaining on me."**

****

**"It'll be a long time before I ever catch up with you, Varec. I'm not holding my breath."**

****

**'Elizabeth' went around the room and introduced each one of the people on the bridge to Strickland.**

****

**"You're not an alien," Strickland said with certainty to Gray Hawk. "You're from the Mesaliko Reservation… and so are you," he said to Little Fox and White Feather. He turned to Jeff and Nancy Parker… "Are you, uh, human, too? No… if you're Liz's parents… you'd have to be aliens, wouldn't you?"**

****

**Jeff smiled. "Some people may think so, I guess… but we're human. Our daughter is human, too. Her boyfriend is the one who's from some, uh, some other place."**

****

**Liz smiled and nodded, adding, "Zan and Max are only part alien. They're part human, too."**

****

**"This is a lot to digest all at once," Strickland said softly. "So some of you are part alien, like Zan, some of you are human… including Mesaliko, and some of you are… I presume… completely alien?"**

****

**"That would be Varec and Rayylar," 'Elizabeth' said… "and Rahn. Varec is one hundred percent Antarian. So is Tess' husband, Rayylar… and, uh… Rahn." She decided not to elaborate on Rahn's unique difference… the fact that he was a shape-shifter. Strickland had enough to think about already… and he knew enough about them, too… at least for now.**

****

**Strickland looked at the three men. He couldn't see much difference between them and the humans or the part humans. Now that he knew for sure that they were aliens, of course, he could see some differences in Varec and Rayylar. They had rather large eyes… but not entirely too large to be human. Strickland thought of The Captain and Tennille, who were popular singers a decade or two back. The Captain's eyes were easily as big as Varec's or Rayylar's… maybe even larger. Varec and Rayylar's skin was a bit light… in a strange sort of way. But that, too, was not definitively non-human. And it had an appealing tone to it, really… It wasn't just anemic or pale. Their accents set them apart, but it could have been from anywhere. Strickland just hadn't been able to place it. No… Strickland realized that these 'aliens' could have passed for humans and lived among us. The part aliens, Max and the others like him, apparently had lived among us… and no one had been the wiser.**

****

**"Aren't you afraid… or at least concerned," Strickland said to Max, "that so many people are going to know what you are now?"**

****

**Max shrugged. "It wasn't really a choice that we made. Circumstances cast that fate upon us. Our doubles managed to keep their secret pretty well in their dimension, but things went kind of wrong for us in our dimension. Some of us got shot… at our graduation…"**

****

**Strickland gasped. "You were part of that graduating class… the one involved in the shooting? But you… How did you…? I heard you were dead! My God!" Strickland exclaimed, suddenly understanding… "Then… that's what that whole shooting was all about! You were shot because of… who you are! They knew! Culpepper… and the others… They knew! I never realized…"**

****

**Max sighed. "Like I said, the secret's out now. After we were shot, they took us somewhere on the base and locked us up… on Culpepper's orders, I think. They originally intended to dissect us… Michael, Maria, and Isabel were dead, by human standards, but I healed them. It's something I have a kind of gift for. After we escaped from the base, we hid with… uh… friends… but then all hell broke loose on the reservation, and I had to do some things that made it impossible for us to hide anymore. A lot of people saw things that they shouldn't have seen… things that we had never let anyone see before… On top of that, I think some of it was seen on TV. We didn't plan it that way… It just happened. Now there's no going back… just forward… wherever that takes us."**

****

**Strickland nodded understandingly and looked back at the huge front window of the New Granolith just as several F/A-18 Hornets suddenly flew by. The planes made a wide circle and came back for another pass, then the radio that Varec had rigged up suddenly came alive…**

****

**"General Strickland, this is Eagle Scout." **

****

**Strickland saw one of the pilots raise his thumb and smile as he passed in front of the ship's huge fore window. **

****

**"I see you've made new friends, General."**

****

**Varec handed Strickland the microphone. The tiny device had no attached wire, so Strickland assumed that it functioned remotely. He held it between his thumb and first finger and spoke into it…**

****

**"I believe so, sir."**

****

**"There's someone else with me who wishes to say hello to a 'friend,' Eagle Scout said. He pointed with his thumb at a nearby F/A-18. The pilot of that plane smiled, raised one hand, and gave a quick wink as he passed by the front of the ship."**

****

**"Who was that," Michael asked.**

****

**Diane Casey blushed a bit and smiled. "Dan Klein. That was meant for me, I think. He said he'd be back to help us… He didn't tell me he was a pilot, though."**

****

**Suddenly, Dan's voice came over the radio… "We got rid of the planes for you… only had to 'encourage' two of the pilots to return to base. The rest appear to have heeded General Strickland's order… By the way, David… Congratulations on your promotion!"**

****

**Strickland smiled. "Thanks. Uh… just how did you 'encourage' them, Dan?"**

****

**"I just got behind 'em… told 'em I'd put a sidewinder up their afterburners if they didn't head back to base immediately. They were very reasonable about it."**

****

**"No doubt," Strickland replied. "Well, Dan, you're a little late, but I can't say that we don't still need your help." He looked over at Gray Hawk and the other two Mesalikos… "There's someone here who wants to know about the situation on the reservation, I think, Dan."**

****

**"Doesn't look good. We did several flyovers, and there isn't one house down there that escaped damage. I'd say ninety percent of them are totally destroyed. Right now, the Reservation is swarming with people, though… and all kinds of vehicles. We've got a team coming in to protect what's left."**

****

**"And the Mesalikos?" Strickland asked. "Did many of them survive?"**

****

**Gray Hawk stepped forward to answer Strickland's question… **

****

**"My people are all safe… thanks to these people… and Kyle… He warned us what was going to happen. Because of that, we were able to escape in time. The Mesaliko people have never asked for anything more than to live… and be free. Everything else is just…" Gray Hawk paused a moment but didn't come up with anything to compare "everything else" to. "We will find somewhere to go now where we can live… and build our homes again."**

****

**"Dan…" the voice crackled over the radio… "Eagle Scout here. Tell the Mesaliko people that their homes will be rebuilt… The government will take care of it."**

****

**Strickland turned and looked at Gray Hawk… "Is that okay?"**

****

**Gray Hawk nodded. "We are grateful. Does it have to be exactly like the old house?"**

****

**"No… I guess not. Was there something wrong with the old house," Dan asked.**

****

**"It was leaky… the ancestors could see in. I had to use peyote dust sometimes… a lot of it… when I didn't want them to see something…"**

****

**Dan chuckled. **

****

**There was a brief silence…**

****

**"No… it would not have to be like the old house exactly," Eagle Scout said. "It seems only fair that you should be able to repair or rebuild your home any way you like."**

****

**"Thank you," Gray Hawk said humbly. "I want a pow-wow room."**

****

**Dan chuckled again. "I think you'll get it, Gray Hawk. It's the least we can do after what's happened here. By the way, Eagle Scout wants to know if someone on your ship might be willing to… uh… oversee the restoration of the reservation. He would like to talk with someone about it."**

****

**Zan took the microphone device from Strickland… "We'll do anything we can, naturally, but why would he trust us… or even want us to help?"**

****

**Dan smiled. "Well, in the time that Diane and I were together on the reservation and she was filming, we saw things, Zan… how your people worked together… your determination… your ability to overcome obstacles that would have defeated others… functioning together in an environment of hostility and danger that would have left most others unable to go on. But you kept going. You persevered. You succeeded. And you were accepted by the Mesaliko people. That means a lot! It is something that is not easily accomplished or to be taken lightly. Eagle Scout… and I… believe that your special, uh, talents and fortitude, and your special relations with the Mesaliko people, are what we need now. Would any one of you… one of the ones you picked up here or someone from your ship… be willing to take the assignment on… for the time it takes to repair the damages?"**

****

**"That would be you, Michael," Zan said to Rath. "You were the one who practically single-handedly brought everything back together on Antar after the war with Kivar was over. You had all the linked science labs rebuilt and brought all our scientists back. There couldn't be anyone better to do this job than you."**

****

**Michael smiled… then sighed in resignation, but deep inside, he actually wanted this, and he knew it. "Geez, Max, with a recommendation like that… You don't leave me any room to say no. Okay… yeah, I'll do it. I'm a sucker for making things work out when there are handicaps to be overcome. I guess I owe Hank for that… Hank and Mr. Borelli."**

****

**"The biology teacher?"**

****

**"Yeah."**

****

**"Did he help you pass biology?"**

****

**"Nah… He failed me… But I survived it." Michael smiled a self-satisfied smile. **

****

**Max shook his head and smiled, too. "You'll be a great advocate for the Mesalikos! Nobody else could ever make sure they get everything they should get or that it's done right better than you will."**

****

**It seemed that everyone present on the bridge was in agreement, because there were a lot of nodding heads at that moment… then Maria sealed it by giving Michael a kiss, guaranteeing that he wouldn't back out even if he had had backing out in mind… which he didn't.**

****

**"Well, you know I'll do my best," Michael said after Maria was finally finished with him.**

****

**"You always do, Michael," Maria said softly. "I've never complained."**

****

**Zan handed a slightly reddening Rath the microphone…**

****

**"Here… Talk to Eagle Scout and Dan about it." **

****

**Then he turned to Gray Hawk…**

****

**"With Michael on the job, you'll be back in your homes before you know it. For now, welcome to the New Granolith… It can be your home away from home… if you're okay with that.**

****

**Gray Hawk nodded. "And what of my people? There are 173 Mesaliko who lived on the Reservation."**

****

**Max looked at Michael, and Michael shrugged… "We've got the room…"**

****

**Max breathed out a long breath then looked back at Gray Hawk and smiled… "Welcome to the Mesaliko Reservation… the, uh, sky rise subdivision." Then he turned to Liz and Strickland and grinned. "I wonder what the people down there are going to be saying. This is going to really put Roswell on the map. Who'd've guessed… real aliens… in Roswell! And they're us! And we're abducting all the Indians… Real news like this could put the National Enquirer and Globe completely out of business."**

****

****

****

**tbc**

****

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**Coming up: Michael gets down to business, and Gray Hawk reveals that he knows a lot more about Angie Lee than he ever told her… or anybody else. **

****

****


	34. Dreams33

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Gray Hawk And A'in Ji Lii**

**Chapter 33**

**XXXIII******

**Four days had passed since Max and Michael had agreed to allow all 173 displaced Mesalikos to be brought onboard the Antarian mothership, the New Granolith, until their houses could be rebuilt or repaired. With Culpepper's demise unquestioned after what had happened… and Generals Hawkins and Hawthorn both officially AWOL, neither one having been seen for the last three days, it had been fairly easy for a newly appointed General David Strickland and two F/A-18 air squadrons from Texas and Alabama, led by Dan Klein and "Eagle One," to put an end to "Operation Seeing Red." **

**The name Culpepper had given to his bogus maneuvers had turned out to be oddly revealing. After Judge Lewis provided him with the clues that allowed him to figure out that the "aliens" were hiding on the reservation, Culpepper had indeed been "seeing red…" and he directed that anger at the Mesaliko Indians… "red skins." His goal was to punish the Mesalikos for helping the aliens to escape from him as much as it was to recapture… or kill… the aliens themselves. And unlike most people, Culpepper was not bothered by feelings of pity or remorse. In that, at least, he and Judge Lewis shared a common bond. But Judge Lewis was still recovering at Roswell General from wounds suffered in his ill-advised tangle with Amy.**

**General Hawkins and General Hawthorn, for their parts, had been complicit in Culpepper's activities by giving him the personnel and equipment he needed to attack the reservation and signing the official papers approving the bogus "maneuvers." Neither general really knew the extent to which Culpepper would go, but both knew that this fact would matter for little. Both of them had known that Culpepper's maneuvers were bogus… but they had wanted the aliens back as badly as Culpepper had. They had made excuses for Culpepper's actions as long as they could then had looked the other way when Culpepper had gone over the top. They were responsible, and there was no denying it. Still, no one was sure why the two had disappeared. Ultimately, they would have to face justice, likely a court martial, if they came back. But living in the land of the disappeared didn't seem much better. Either way, they would no longer have their positions, their salaries, or their power. **

**General Haggerty would probably escape any blame for the reservation fiasco. He had been in Washington, D.C. the whole time and had had no part in it, but he was almost certainly complicit in the earlier shootings that had put Liz in a coma and Max, Michael, Isabel, and Maria in a dank cell on the base. After all, it had been Haggerty who had made up the story about the agents in that shooting being vets who had been drinking earlier in the night and had suffered a mass battle flashback. And it was he who had said that the victims, other than Liz, were all dead. Explaining the fake bodies in the coffins now would be no picnic for General Haggerty, and other "sins" were likely to come out as a result. Given the media frenzy and voracious public appetite for every morsel of information that was tossed to them about what had gone on in Roswell or was going on there now, there seemed to be little doubt that any guilt… or lack of it… would almost surely come out.**

**Work on the reservation had already begun. Jumping right into his new job, Michael had actually lined up most of the contractors needed before the sun had even set or the dust had settled on the first day… literally. About a third of the Mesalikos had signed on as carpenters… rebuilding their houses and getting paid for it, too. For their part, the Mesalikos started work early each day, as soon as the sun began to rise, but they stopped work at three o'clock promptly, and most of them returned straight to the ship as soon as they were off. Max wondered about their desire to return early each day, but Michael seemed to have no problem with it, and work was proceeding at an unprecedented pace despite having started only two days before.**

**One of the Mesalikos who wasn't working as a carpenter was Gray Hawk. He had chosen to stay onboard… after carefully going over the plans for his new home, complete with a new pow wow room, with Michael. He knew Michael would see that it was done right. Besides, for all his strength and stamina, Gray Hawk was an old man. He relished the opportunity to relax and let someone else do the work for once.**

**It was almost dinnertime… five o'clock… now, and most of the Mesaliko workers had returned to the ship at least an hour before and were making their way to the dining room already. One thing they did not seem to lack was an appetite, and the Antarian food was definitely A-OK with them. Many of them had even asked for seeds to plant their own grelliat gardens and other Antarian vegetable patches. Max hadn't decided yet whether introducing Antarian vegetables to earth was a good idea or not. Exotic plants and animals often turned out to be more harmful than good in the end, and you couldn't get much more exotic than "alien." Still, most of the Antarian vegetables were controllable and didn't seem to pose a major exotics problem… Neither Max nor Varec had been able to come up with a good reason so far not to provide most of the seeds to the Mesalikos who had requested them, though neither had consulted the Department of Agriculture for their opinion either. **

**Wingman One, the pilot who had been brought onboard the New Granolith during the early part of the battle, and Edmonds and his men, who had been transported up later, had been turned over to the newly appointed General Strickland after spending two days onboard the mother ship. All of them had since returned to their duties. It was determined that they had only been following orders and had had no hostile intentions other than as applied to the performance of their duty. In fact, all of the men had been deeply impressed by the "aliens" and the ship, and several had made a genuine effort to strike up a friendship, some asking if they might return to visit the ship later or be given a tour. Max and Michael had readily agreed. The fact is, Max and Michael enjoyed showing off their ship as much as the pilots and troops enjoyed seeing it. The gardens and arboretum… and many of the other features of the New Granolith… were still the source of a great deal of pride and awe to Max and to all those onboard almost as much as to those who were seeing them for the first time. **

**Max and Liz… both couples… walked into the dining room together and found most everyone else already there. The younger Liz from earth had been doing a lot of walking lately, but Jeff and Nancy still smiled and became misty-eyed every time she walked into the room on Max's arm looking for all the world like she had never been paralyzed at all. In a very short few days, Liz had learned to control her "shape-shifting" so well that no one at all would have guessed what had once happened to her. Correcting for the damage by shape-shifting was becoming so normal to her that it happened almost automatically whenever she woke up now. She did it without thinking about it… just as anyone else would roll over to the side of the bed and stand up in the morning without giving it a second thought.**

**Max pulled out Liz's chair, and Liz smiled and sat down gracefully, conscious of the fact that most eyes at the table were watching her in awe. Her previous handicap was still so fresh in everyone's minds that it seemed that the only one who had totally adjusted to the new Liz so far was Liz herself. Liz looked around the table and smiled.**

**Alex grinned and nodded back, and Nancy reached over to squeeze her daughter's hand.**

**Meals were becoming a major affair these days. Because of the large number of Mesalikos onboard, each meal had to be done in several shifts, so the dining room was open pretty much all day. At this shift, on this day, the Antarians and their doubles were all present. Max from Antar sat at one end of the table with Liz on his right and Michael and Maria on his left. Max from earth and the younger Liz sat at the other end of the table with Michael and Maria from earth beside them. It provided an eerie balance. Either way one looked, Max and Liz were there, and beside them were Michael and Maria. It took some getting used to. Gray Hawk and Angie Lee sat next to the younger Max and Liz from earth; and on this occasion, Tess and Rayylar sat next to Gray Hawk and Angie Lee, offsetting the "balance" just a bit. Alex and Isabel from Antar sat at the Antarian end, and their earth doubles sat at the other end with their friends. In the middle, arranged along both sides of the table, were Dan Klein and Diane Casey, Varec, both Jim Valenti's, Amy, Kyle, Jeff and Nancy Parker, Phillip and Diane Evans, Charles and Gloria Whitman, thirty-two Mesalikos, and several visitors… among them, General David Strickland, Edmonds, two F-14 pilots, and one of Edmonds' men. Coincidentally, it was the one who had asked the droid which way he had gone after he had been transported onto the ship. **

**The droid appeared and went around the table, quickly taking everyone's order, then disappeared into the galley after leaving a drink and a small pashita loaf at each place to serve as an appetizer. Edmonds shook his head in awe and looked at General Strickland. Strickland smiled. **

**"Better get used to it, Edmonds. Our world's never gonna be the same again."**

**Dan Klein picked up his glass in a toast. "Here's to change!"**

**The others all smiled and raised their glasses in agreement.**

**"I heard there were some reporters onboard yesterday," Dan added after taking a swallow of his drink.**

**Max nodded and set his glass down. "Yeah. Diane brought Jeff and Glenna back onboard… and a couple of her other co-workers. They filmed a video tour of the ship. It aired last night. It was good!"**

**"Now every other reporter in the world seems to want to come onboard, too," Michael said. "…We've been deluged with requests from at least thirty countries!"**

**"You gonna let 'em come?" Dan asked.**

**Max shrugged. "We're considering the logistics. Maybe we might let some of them come… one or two at a time. Right now it's too soon, though. There's too much going on. We already knew Diane… She's like one of us already."**

**Diane smiled, and Dan looked at her and grinned… "I guess your boss is happy."**

**Diane nodded. "I'll never be called Kitty Kashizzle ever again. It's **_'The Evening News with **Diane Casey'** _now**… and he gets me my coffee."**

**Everyone at the table laughed.**

**When the laughter had settled down, Angie turned to Gray Hawk… "Grandpa, Tell me about my past."**

**Angie Lee already knew what Gray Hawk's response would be. It was always the same…**

"You were my gift, A'in Ji Lii. You came from Heaven. It is not necessary to know more. Earth is our mother; sky is our father. We only need to know that to be happy."

**Angie Lee had heard it a thousand times before, and she expected to hear it again. She had the answer memorized already. She could repeat it with him word for word… but Gray Hawk put his pashita loaf down and looked into Angie Lee's eyes. Then he smiled. It was something of a mixture of a sad smile and a happy one. Angie Lee's heart began to race. Gray Hawk was going to say something… and it would not be his usual pat answer. Angie Lee knew him well. She could see it in his eyes… and written in the lines on his face. Angie Lee put her bread down and took a quick sip of her drink then looked at Gray Hawk.**

**Gray Hawk held up his hand… his palm aimed toward Angie Lee… and instinctively, Angie Lee placed her palm against his.**

**"Do you feel it?" Gray Hawk asked softly.**

**Angie Lee shook her head but then began to nod. "I don't… I don't know. Yes… I feel something."**

**Gray Hawk lowered his hand.**

**"In 1947, I was a young man… only twenty-three years old. There was a lot less out there on those hills in 1947 than there is today. I hunted in those hills then… almost every day… and one day, when I was hunting, something fell out of the sky. It was much like this… machine… that we are in now… only not so large… much smaller. I saw the light fall from the sky, and I ran to see what it was. When I got there, though, there was nothing to see. I was confused and thought that the ancestors were playing a strange joke on me. I looked everywhere, but after a long time of looking, I went back home.**

**The next day, I went back and looked again, but still there was nothing to see. I sat down on a rock to think, and I heard something… in my head. It wasn't a sound like you or I would make to make someone hear us… it was more of a… a thought. But I heard it. I turned around and looked again, but there was no one there… only the hills… only the grass… only the trees… and the wind…**

**But there was something… The wind seemed to be blowing on me from two directions… It was blowing on my face from the left… and from the right… but not from straight ahead. It was like a void was there where the wind dared not to blow… Instead, it went around the void and blew on my face from both sides. I walked toward the windless void in front of me, and I walked right into something that I could not see. I touched it with my hands. I ran my hands along it for many paces in both directions. I followed it to the other side. It was something big… something that could not be seen. I was… scared… but I was more curious. So I stayed. I sat on the rock again and asked the ancestors why they were taunting me. Were they taking my mind away from me when I was so young… or trying to teach me something that I needed to know. Sometimes they will do that.**

**Then I heard the thought again. It wasn't in words… I don't think there were words at all… It was more like… a feeling. I stood up and followed where it led me… It seemed to be leading me toward one place, and I bent down and stepped forward. I expected to hit my head on the windless void again, but this time I did not. I stepped inside something that my eyes could not see from the outside. And from inside, I could not see outside. The thing that I was in was a machine… made out of iron… but not like the iron we make knives from or any other iron I have ever seen… not then and not since then. It was different. It was… solid… but like liquid. It would bend, but it always returned to what it had been before. I followed the lights inside the strange machine-void to several other rooms, and in one of them, there were several strange, glowing sacks. Near the sacks, there was a man. He was lying on the floor, and his eyes were open, but he seemed to be dying. He was different. When his eyes closed, a black eyelid closed over them and made his eyes look very large… and black. But then he opened them again and he looked like us… except somewhat paler… and thinner… and his fingers were relatively slender."**

**Gray Hawk looked at Rayylar and Varec. Their fingers were also more slender than might be expected. It wasn't a very pronounced difference. In fact, none of the others had ever noticed. But Gray Hawk did. Of course, he knew now that the man he had seen in 1947 was indeed like Rayylar and Varec, but he had not seen anyone else like them before.**

**"In my mind, I felt a thought… no, a compulsion… to help, but I didn't know how. Something seemed to be leading me to the glowing sacks… and to one of them in particular. I looked… and then I saw… what I saw…"**

**There was a total silence at the table until Angie Lee broke it…**

**"What, Grandpa? What did you see?"**

**"A tiny hand. It pressed against the side of the sack… from the inside… with its palm and five little fingers open. At first, I wanted to run away… I was shocked. But instead I reached down and placed my hand against the tiny hand inside the sack… and that's when it happened."**

**"What, Grandpa," Angie Lee asked quietly.**

**"A feeling washed over me… like nothing I had ever felt before… very powerful. It touched my heart and ran through my whole body. I knew who you were. I knew YOU. I knew the dangers you had faced… And at the same time, the other voice in my head was telling me that you would face danger again… from others… here. When I took my hand away, I felt like… I know it sounds strange, but… like a bond was broken… a special bond, like the cord a mother shares with her baby… I felt like if I let you go you would drift away in some strange, unseen river and be lost forever. We had been one for a moment… and now I might lose you again… forever. And at the same time, I was you… the child… and I felt myself drifting away… away from a mother or father…  I felt both of our emotions, A'in Ji Lii… yours… and mine… mixed together… inseparable."**

**Angie Lee placed her hands over her face and choked back the tears that brimmed up in her eyes…**

**"I made you love me, then. It was all just some alien thing. It wasn't what your heart really felt… It was just an alien trick… meant to guarantee my survival… to make you think you loved me so you would protect me."  **

**Gray Hawk shook his head. "No A'in Ji Lii. That is not true! The voice… the feeling… inside my head took me to another sack in the room after that one… I placed my hand against the hand in that sack, too…"  
  
"Who was it," Angie Lee asked. **

**"It was you, A'in Ji Lii." **

**Gray Hawk could see that Angie Lee was surprised by this… and confused.**

**"The voice in my head was trying to protect YOU, A'in Ji Lii… but there were more than one of you. I didn't understand it then, but I knew that some of the other sacks in that room were you, too. When I touched the hand in the second sack, though, it made me jump. It seemed to grab me. I mean… it didn't actually grab me… but it felt like it did. It was a feeling like it wanted to… like it would protect itself at any cost. It gave me a sense of danger… fear for my life… I felt like I needed to escape. But when I touched your hand… I felt only love wash through me. Love… and loss."**

**"Did you touch any of the other sacks… with me in them," Angie Lee asked.**

**Gray Hawk shook his head. "No. The voice in my head said that you were the right one. It seemed to know it… and I seemed to know it. You did touch my heart, A'in Ji Lii. But it was not a trick. It was you. I felt love… like a father or…"**

**"A grandfather?"**

**Gray Hawk smiled and nodded. "A grandfather, yes. Like a father, I think, at the time… but you were not ready to come out into this strange new world yet. When you finally were, it was many years later, and I was a grandfather."**

**Angie Lee smiled and kissed Gray Hawk's weathered face.**

**"You've been both a father and a grandfather to me, Grandpa. I love you."**

**Gray Hawk nodded and hugged Angie Lee to himself.**

**"Did you take me with you, Grandpa?" **

**Gray Hawk nodded. "I looked at the man on the floor. He seemed satisfied. I think it was his thoughts that I kept hearing. He seemed to be telling me to get you away from there… and I knew somehow that there were other sacks that had already been taken away somewhere and protected… with other babies in them… not you. He was supposed to protect you. You were his responsibility. I wrapped the sack in a cloth and took it with me. But when I stepped outside, I noticed that there were two other men like him standing outside the ship. They hadn't been there before.**

**For a moment, we all just looked at each other… then I started to go, but one of the men stopped me and put his hand on my chest. The moment he did that, I heard the voice in my head shout… very loudly… _'Don't!'_ It wasn't in words… It was a… a thought… but I understood it.**

**The man stood there for several moments with his hand pressed against my chest, and I could hear thoughts and emotions flying back and forth between him and someone else… too fast… too many… for me to understand… between the one holding his hand against my chest and the one inside the ship, I think. Finally, he lowered his hand… but he seemed angry about it… as though he was not getting his way.**

**The voice in my head seemed to plead with him to rescue another sack. He looked at me for a moment, then he went inside the ship and returned with the other one that I had touched…"**

**"The one that made you afraid, Grandpa?"**

**Gray Hawk nodded. "The man gave me a final look… a sort of angry, cold, sullen look… then he walked away carrying the other sack. Then the man who had been with him went into the ship and brought out another one of the sacks. That's when I noticed that there were two more of these strange men lying on the ground outside the ship. I hadn't seen them before. They may have been dead already. When I started to check on them, though, the voice in my head said very loudly to go… I could come back later… but to protect you first. I was never able to get back again, though. The Army came that same day, and it was impossible to return. I never knew what happened to them. But I knew this… Their only thoughts were to protect you… and the ones they had saved already."**

**"Even the angry one, Grandpa?"**

**"Yes. I think he would have preferred to kill me first and then save the sacks… but your safety was the most important thing to him. I never knew if that was his choice or… something else. But in the end, it makes no difference really, little yellow coyote. He let me take you, because it was the only way that they could save as many of the sacks as they could… and the dying man inside the ship commanded it." **

**"What… what did you do with me… with the sack… Grandpa?"**

**"I took it to my house. I kept it there… in a special room."**

**"Since 1947…?"**

**Gray Hawk nodded. "Forty-six years. It was forty-six years before you finally decided to come out."**

**Angie Lee looked stunned. "You took care of me all that time… for nothing in return?"**

**Gray Hawk smiled. "It wasn't so hard, A'in Ji Lii. You didn't eat or need a bottle… I didn't even ever have to change your diapers…"**

**Angie Lee blushed.**

**"All I ever did was come in your room several times a day and press my hand to yours. You always knew when I was there, A'in Ji Lii. Your little hand and fingers would press against the inside of the sack as soon as I came in the room… like a child asking to be picked up. So in a way, I held you… by pressing my hand to yours. It made you happy. It made… me happy."**

**"Grandpa… you said that you knew who I was… that you knew me… and the dangers I had been through… the first time you touched my hand. You must have got that from me. Why don't I remember it myself?"**

**"I don't know why you do not remember, A'in Ji Lii. The information is there… in you… because I felt it the first time I touched you. Maybe it disappeared and… you just forgot. You were only a… a…"**

**"A sack?"**

**"No, A'in Ji Lii… More than that… Much more."**

**"Who am I, Grandpa? Where am I from?"**

**Gray Hawk looked at Max and Michael then at Varec and Rayylar… **

**"A planet known as Antar… their planet. You were its queen… and his wife… until your enemies killed you."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Max and Liz, with Tess' help, have a lot of explaining to do to Angie Lee and Gray Hawk, and Jim Valenti shows up at a Roswell town council meeting with Amy and takes on the city "leaders" for going along with Judge Lewis when the judge arrested Liz and Alex on trumped up drug charges and sent them off to an asylum miles away from their families and friends, putting their lives in danger.**


	35. Dreams34

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Sins Of The Past**

**Chapter 34**

**XXXIV******

**Accusingly, Gray Hawk's finger pointed directly at the younger Max from earth. Angie Lee gasped, and Kyle appeared too stunned to speak. Liz sat with her mouth open but no words coming out. Max turned a shade paler than normal, but after a moment, he managed to stammer…**

**"There was a book… In it there was something about us having mates before… on Antar… but I… we… none of us… know anything about that other than what the book said. I swear, I could never have had anything to do with harming Angie Lee, though."**

**"You did not," Gray Hawk replied. "Her enemies were also your enemies. They killed you, too… all of you. But you, Max, were the king… and A'in Ji Lii was your queen. You were married."**

**Angie Lee looked at Max then at Kyle. Kyle appeared vaguely ill. **

**Angie Lee swallowed hard. "I… I don't remember that… I don't remember anything from then. I don't… I'm sorry, Max… I don't feel that way… about you."**

**Max breathed a deep breath. It was hard to tell if he was finding his voice again or if it was a reflex action caused by relief. In either case, it was the first breath he had taken since Gray Hawk had pointed his finger at him.**

**Max shook his head. "I have no memory of that either. And it's alright, Angie Lee. I…" He glanced at Liz beside him… "I love someone else already. It only makes sense that you would, too. This life is not the one we lived before… on Antar. We may have been made from their DNA… We may even be them… but we have different… destinies."**

**Liz shook her head and laid her shaking hand on the table in front of her. She attempted to calm it by laying the other hand on top of it, but that hand was shaking, too… **

**"How can we fight destiny, Max? I mean… if that's your destiny… How can you fight it?"**

**Max's mouth dropped open, and he appeared to be shocked and hurt. "How can you accept that, Liz… just like that? I thought you… I thought we…"**

**Isabel kicked Max under the table and gave him a piercing look…**

**"Max, you idiot, look at her. It's not what she wants. She's looking for a way out of this stupid destiny crap. You're supposed to help her find it, not act like a friggin' hurt puppy!"**

**Max closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again. "I'm sorry, Liz. I just…"**

**Liz held a hand up and shook her head. "Don't, Max. I understand."**

**"No, I don't think you do, Liz." Max shook his head emphatically. "I don't believe in destiny… except the destiny that we make ourselves. If we had a different life before, that life doesn't exist now… at least not the same way it did before. Angie Lee knows it, too. If destiny was in play here, I'd be looking at Angie Lee all the time like… like… well, kind of like Kyle keeps looking at her… when he thinks no one is noticing."**

**Kyle's face momentarily reddened enough that he might have passed for a Mesaliko, and Angie Lee looked down to try to hide the smile that was inching over her face.**

**Tess stood up and walked over beside her younger near-double. Tess was, for all practical purposes, Angie Lee's double, but besides the slight age difference, which they all had, Tess had light, smoky blue eyes; the younger Angie Lee's eyes were jade green. Except for those minor differences, the two might have been mistaken for identical twins… **

**"Angie Lee, I think I may be able to help you understand some of this… You, too, Max," Tess said, turning to the younger Max from earth. "In our dimension, Max and I have been through this already. So has Liz." Tess looked at the younger Liz. "And Liz, Max married you in my dimension… not me. So destiny can be changed, like Max said. It's not set in concrete… nothing is… except as we allow it to be. I married Rayylar." Tess smiled at Rayylar, and he returned the smile. "It was the best thing I ever did… Max was crushed, of course, but… somebody had to do the right thing." Tess winked at Liz from Antar, and Liz shook her head and smiled. Beside her, Max closed his eyes and bit his tongue.**

**"And there's something else, Angie Lee," Tess said… "something that you really have to know. It would have made life so much easier for me if I had known it from the start. Our scientists discovered that about twelve thousand years ago, one of the king's confidants switched his own baby for the king's baby. No one ever knew it at the time. The confidant's baby grew up as part of the royal family, and the king's baby grew up thinking she was the daughter of the other man. The king's real daughter, who was raised by this other man and didn't know she was part of the royal family, eventually got married and had children, and they had children, and their children had children… through about twelve generations, I think… until about ten thousand years ago, when three girls were born into her line, MayaSabriena, AnDasniya, and JoLeesa. Their father was a cosmic mapper and xenobiologist, and he took his family to a blue planet in the seventh galaxy from Antar, called Eluymer, to map that planet and gather life forms to bring back to Antar for study. You know Eluymer as earth. The three girls were only fourteen years old… going on fifteen… when they came to earth. And they were triplets.**

**At that time, Eluymer… your earth… had two moons…"**

**A number of people around the table sat up, appearing shocked at this bit of information, especially General Strickland, Corporal Edmonds, Dan Klein, and Diane Casey.**

**"The smaller of the two moons," Tess said, "was only about half as far away as the larger of the two, the one that is still there today. Anyway, Maya, Andya, and JoLeese were allowed to travel back and forth to the small moon at will in a kind of small, enclosed vehicle that was apparently pretty simple to operate. And they went back and forth often, because they had a secret hideout there… a hidden cave on the far side. I won't go into the whole story of these girls' lives or what happened to them, but here's why they're so important to us…**

**Ten thousand years after those girls went to earth, Max and Michael found a diary and some other things that one of the girls, Maya, had kept when they were on earth. Because of this diary, our scientists decided to trace the girls' ancestry and lineage, both on Antar and on earth. What they found was that these three girls were… according to their DNA… in the direct line from the king. But this was not possible, so they traced the ancestry, using DNA, of the most recent queen… me… and found that I was NOT in the direct line from the king or from any of the extended royal family. Instead, I was in the line from the king's confidant thousands of years before. Of course, like everyone else, I didn't know this. This meant that the triplets had been the most recent known true female descendants of the real original king of Antar. When our scientists traced Maya, Andya, and JoLeesa's lineage on earth, they found that one of the girls, Maya, the first-born of the three and the one who had kept the diary, had a descendant still living on earth today." Tess looked at Liz from Antar. "That descendant is Liz. And since she is the only known direct living descendant of MayaSabriena, who was a direct descendant of the king of Antar at the time when the lines diverged, Liz is… legally and rightly… the real queen of Antar. Who'd've known, right?"**

**For several moments, Angie Lee sat quietly, absorbing this information… Then she asked… **

**"Does that mean that Max is not the real king then? And if he is… and Liz is the real Queen, too… aren't they like… related?"**

**Tess smiled. "That would be logical, but they're not really. Max is descended directly from the original king through the male line. Traditionally, the queen was chosen from among the many descendants of the many members of the royal family who were descended from the original king. But after more than twelve thousand years and a lot of marriages outside the royal family, none of the women who become queen are really that closely related, bloodwise, to the King… Only the King, through the male bloodline, maintains an absolutely pure lineage. But position is everything. I was the Queen of Antar in our past life, because Max… Zan, that is… married me… but I was not a queen by heritage, only by his choice, because I had never belonged to the royal family as it turns out. Liz, on the other hand, is Queen both by heritage and by choice. She is a true Queen of Antar."**

**Several people around the table applauded lightly, and "Wow" was heard more than once.**

**"The reason you need to know this, Angie Lee," Tess said, "is because you need to let go of any preconceptions you might come to have about some false position in society that you occupy. When we returned to Antar, I knew that Max was married to Liz and that I would never be his queen… I accepted that… and I was totally okay with it… but I had this preconception that I had that station in life, as the rightful heiress to the throne based on my lineage, and without realizing it, I shut a lot of people out of my life… guys especially. I didn't really understand why everyone else had someone and I was still alone… until Alex told me. Mr. Big shot King over here didn't want to hurt my feelings." Tess walked over and gave Max a light thunk on the back of the head with a flick of her finger.**

**"Michael, aren't you supposed to be protecting me," Max asked, rubbing the back of his head and giving Michael a bewildered look.**

**Michael smiled.**

**"So much for being a king, huh!" Max groaned good-naturedly.**

**There was some laughter around the table.**

**"Nobody wanted to tell me," Tess said. "After the others found out about it, it was all hush-hush around me. It took Alex to tell me the truth. He just came right out with it… _'Tess, you're not the real Queen. Liz is.' _There… it was as easy as that. Then he told me what they all knew but were too afraid to tell me."**

**Isabel squirmed in her seat, and Alex smiled. He remembered how Isabel had practically threatened to end his life with supreme prejudice and violence after he had embarrassed her by so bluntly telling Tess the truth right in front of her. But Alex had surmised that Tess needed to know this in order to move on with her life… and he had been right. He hadn't told her the truth to be cruel, though to some… like Isabel at the time… it had seemed so. Isabel had put him on notice after that that the only reason he was still living at all was because he was so unbearably cute and irresistible… most of the time… Otherwise…**

**In their own dimension, before Max and Michael went to Antar and defeated Kivar to retake Max's throne, Tess had been responsible for Alex's death. But when Max and Michael later returned to earth in its past to try to save Liz, Maria, and Isabel from dying in the end of the world, they wound up changing time in some unexpected ways, specifically by undoing the damage to time that 'future Max' had done by coming back in the old granolith. As a result, the earth survived, and Tess never killed Alex. In fact, she never knew Nasado at all. Years later, when the special unit found out that Alex had been close to Isabel, they dragged him off to the base without letting anyone know what had happened to him. His parents thought he had been killed, and it was Tess who saved him and brought him to Antar.**

**Alex had no memory of ever being killed, of course, because once that timeline changed, it never happened. The only ones who remembered it were Max, Michael, and Kyle, because they had lived on earth in that past before it was changed. Everyone else was a product of the changed past. Alex did know about it, because Max and Michael had told him, but he shrugged it off. Tess was, after all, his good friend in this timeline. She had saved him from the special unit and had brought him with her to Antar. Despite these differences in Tess, however, she was keenly aware that she had been the Queen of Antar in her past life… and until Alex relieved her of that burden, it had ruled her life in ways that she never realized. **

**"Liz is good as the Queen," Tess said. "She isn't bothered by preconceptions of any kind. She's just herself. And it works… for her. I would have thought I'd have been upset to find out that I wasn't even a royal, but I actually just felt liberated. I looked around, and there was this whole world that I had never seen before… guys that I had hardly allowed myself to speak to or who wouldn't speak to me because I gave off that air like, 'Don't come close, I'm a royal.' You know? I didn't realize I was even doing that. But suddenly, I was free, and I could see it… and it actually felt good to be… just me."**

**Tess sat down, and Rayylar pulled her close and gave her a kiss. Alex leaned over and boldly gave her a kiss of his own on the cheek, and Tess smiled. Somehow, Alex knew that Rayylar wouldn't mind. Isabel shook her head, certain that one day Alex was going to miscalculate. But she smiled, too. Alex was Alex after all. And there was nobody else in the whole world like Alex… Alex was free of all preconceptions, as Tess had so aptly said about Liz. Alex was pure… He was Alex. And it allowed him to get away with a lot. **

**Two days later, in Roswell, Jim and Amy were making their way through the crowds toward City Hall. The streets of Roswell were packed, something that reminded Jim of the UFO conventions that were celebrated there every year… probably almost since the crash happened in 1947. UFO freaks and alien-seeking sci-fi buffs came from all over the U.S. and many other countries each year for the convention, and the town's leaders encouraged it. It meant money… big money… in the city's coffers. The business people loved it, too. Business at the CrashDown, Jeff and Nancy Parker's alien-themed café, always bustled during the UFO Convention. It brought in more profit in five days than the whole next three to four months together could be expected to generate. So it was no wonder, really, that the town leaders were meeting today to discuss how to best capitalize on the presence above Roswell and the Mesaliko Reservation of an honest-to-God, bona-fide UFO with worldwide news coverage already assured. Jim could just imagine the salivating that was going on in that meeting, and it made his blood boil.**

**To Jim, it seemed the absolute epitome of hypocrisy for these men and women to sit there in their plush seats talking about how to make more money from this phenomenon that literally dropped into their laps… after the way they had treated Liz and Alex… even passing a special ordinance allowing Judge Lewis to send them to an insane asylum on trumped up charges of dealing drugs, something that no one in Roswell would have truly believed. Judge Lewis had wielded enormous power in Roswell, enough to lead the town council any way he wanted them to go, but that did not excuse them in Jim's mind. What they had done was criminal, and Jim would not let them get away with it so easily… much less allow them to profit from the presence of the 'aliens' now… at least not without hearing from him first.**

**Jim opened the door of the city hall building and held it for Amy. Amy was a very independent person, but Jim was nothing if he wasn't a gentleman… It was in his blood. And Amy would have had it no other way. They walked up the stairs together to the third floor council room, and Jim opened the door again. Councilman Moss was leading the meeting, and he stopped in mid-sentence. Everybody turned to look at Jim and Amy. For a moment, no words were spoken, then Jim broke the silence.**

**"Gentlemen… as Sheriff of Roswell, I believe I am allowed to attend this meeting."**

**"Sure… Yeah, sure, you are Sheriff," Councilman Ralph Moss replied. "Have a seat. We were just talking about how our town can grow and… uh… take advantage… uh… put to best advantage… the presence of this wonderful… uh… turn of events in our area."**

**Jim's eyes widened. "Wonderful, Ralph? Is that what you all think it is now?"**

**"Well, sure, Jim… We all want what's best for Roswell. This is a boon. We intend to take advantage of it… The town can benefit…"**

**Jim nodded. "I see that. What about those two kids… Elizabeth Parker and Alex Whitman, Ralph?"**

**"Now what do you mean by that, Sheriff? Nobody done those kids any harm. They're both doing just fine. I heard the girl's even walking again."**

**"You heard right, Ralph. It's no thanks to you or anyone in this room, though. If you had had your way, she'd be dead now… along with the Whitman boy."**

**"Now that's a mighty hard accusation, Jim. We never wanted to harm them… either one of them. Judge Lewis maybe… I can't speak for him. But leave us out of that."**

**"You didn't leave yourself out of it, Ralph. How did you vote on that resolution the Judge asked you to pass… you know, the one that gave him the authority to ship those kids up to that asylum and kept their parents –and me- from seeing them?"**

**"That's not fair, Jim."**

**"How'd you vote, Ralph?"**

**There was a brief silence. "I voted 'yes,' Jim. We all did. You know that."**

**Jim nodded. "Yeah… I do. Not even one of you brave, noble councilmen had the guts to say no to Judge Lewis then. Why was that? Huh? Was it that hard to do the right thing? Judge Lewis was taking kickbacks from renegade miscreants in the FBI and the Army, from common criminals, and even from the coyotes. Some of you even knew it. What happened? Cat got your tongues? Nobody knew how to speak up? You just turned those kids over to the FBI and Army to be… killed… or dissected… or whatever… Washed your hands of them… of the whole affair? Well, it's not that easy."**

**"That's not fair, Jim," Moss insisted again. "We had every reason to trust the special units. They are, after all, government sponsored. My God, Jim, we're talking the U.S. of A. here. You don't question your country. It's a matter of… of patriotism."**

**Jim straightened and raised himself up tall suddenly, almost as though he had just been struck in the back by a board, and he looked Moss directly in the eye for several moments… several long moments for Moss. Then he let his gaze drift around the room, catching each council member in turn in his gaze. As he did, he pronounced each ones name in turn slowly and deliberately… "Connie Lawrence… Buddy Mills… Lou Bateman… Frank Johnson… Loretta Sims… Angela Harwood… Kenneth Wilder… Will Wilson… Marsha Goodwin… Tom Everett… Gene Kirby… Jessica and Lonnie Benson…" Each one lowered his or her eyes as Jim called their names.**

**"Shame on you all! That's all I have to say. Shame on you all! We are all fortunate that those two children survived and were rescued… no thanks to any of you sitting here in this room today salivating over the ways to make money off of them now. You sold them out, then you sold out the Mesalikos…"**

**"We had nothing to do with that, Jim," Jessica Benson quickly retorted.**

**"You are all responsible, Jessica. Each and every single one of you. You allowed a cancer to grow in your midst… Judge Lewis. You fed it, groomed it, used it, coddled it. Now you own it… and all that it is responsible for… **

**And Ralph! Patriotism is the right to be proud of what you have accomplished and done when it is GOOD… and the responsibility to keep it that way. History has shown us that even great cities revert to wilderness when there is no one left who cares to tend them, protect them, and build upon them. If our country is great, it is because men and women who cared have fought to keep it that way and to vigilantly weed out corruption that would seek to destroy it. To follow blindly while allowing ourselves to sink into an abyss of corruption and disrepute is not patriotism. That's a crime. What, then, is there to set us apart, as a race, from the Hitlers, Pol Pots, or any other despots and criminals? Might we all hide behind the robes of patriotism? If we as a nation have the right to be patriotic –and indeed we do- it is because some have earned it for us. I would ask you…" Jim looked each one straight in the eyes again. "Do you feel that your actions… or inactions… on this board have earned you that right today? Gentlemen… and ladies, too… we all have made mistakes. Greatness comes in recognizing our mistakes… and then bringing about change that will guarantee the justness of our cause, preserve our heritage, and assure our right and that of every future generation to share in that heritage. Then, and only then, can we as individuals stand proud… and claim our earned right… to patriotism. So Councilman Moss… before you talk to me of patriotism, be absolutely sure that your actions do not betray you. That's all I have to say. Amy? Can you think of anything else?"**

**Amy smiled and shook her head. "You said it all, Jim. I wouldn't change or add a word."**

**"Then gentlemen… and ladies," Jim said, "Thank you all for your time. When next this board meets, I trust we will have happier things to discuss. You may go back to your business now. I think you were talking about how to capitalize on the UFO craze that has come to Roswell." Jim turned and left the room with Amy, leaving only stunned silence in the council hall behind them. **

**Out on the sidewalk again, Amy kissed Jim and wiped a tear from her eyes. "I swear, Jim, I could hear _The Star Spangled Banner_ playing as you spoke. I'd give anything to be a fly on the wall in there right now."**

**Jim smiled and put his arm around Amy.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Judge Lewis gets out of the hospital, and the gang gets a look at Gray Hawk's new house.**


	36. Dreams35

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Of Rumors And Bogeymen**

**Chapter 35**

**XXXV******

**At Roswell General Hospital, the doctors were preparing to release one now fairly-infamous patient, Judge Horace Lewis. His two-week-long stay in the hospital had kept him out of circulation while much of the world learned about the aliens… and found out what had happened to them… and who was responsible. With global news and satellite coverage what it is today, and thanks to Diane Casey's always excellent news coverage, the name of Judge Lewis had become well-known worldwide. It was generally considered slightly more derogatory and creepy than the name of your average ax murderer or Freddy Kruger. In fact, the name "Judge Lewis" seemed to have replaced the Bogeyman in some places… More than one person had been overheard telling children that if they misbehaved Judge Lewis would get them. No one could remember such a name association being used since the American Civil War, when many mothers in northern households kept their children in line… and indoors… with the threat that Stonewall Jackson, the famous and much-feared-in-the-north southern general second to General Lee, would get them if they misbehaved. Further away from home, in parts of Central America, "No seas malo o te lleva el chupacabras" was rapidly being replaced with "…te lleva el juez Luis." It seemed that the legendary chupacabras, a sort of vampirish creature that sucks the blood out of goats and is believed by many to exist, just as many believe bigfoot to exist, was no longer as scary to children… or their mothers… as el juez Luis." **

**On hand to protect Judge Lewis and escort him from the hospital to a waiting car was Sheriff Jim Valenti; and with him was his wife, Amy. The irony of this was not lost on Jim Valenti. Judge Lewis had sought to discredit Jim… He had got the sheriff fired, tried to banish him, and possibly even been complicit in the failed attempt on his life… and now he was depending on Valenti to protect his own sorry life.**

**Jim put his arm around Amy, and Amy smiled.**

**"Do you think he'll be glad to see us," Jim asked Amy coyly.**

**Amy laughed. "He'll be glad to see you, Jim. He needs you… to get him past that mob out there with what little's left of his hide still intact. I don't think he'll be glad to see me. I'm responsible for him losing what he's lost already. He won't want to lose any more."**

**"Well, maybe he's learned his lesson, Amy. People do change, you know."**

**Amy smiled. "Keep believing that, Jim. I love a husband who still believes in the Easter Bunny." She puckered her lips and squeezed Jim's cheek playfully. Jim smiled.**

**"Well, I didn't say I thought he HAD changed," Jim corrected. "I just meant that miracles do happen… sometimes." He looked at Amy, and she looked at him…**

**"Naw," both of them said together at the same time.**

**Jim took a quarter out of his pocket and flipped it into the fountain beside them.**

**"What was that for," Amy asked. "Did you make a wish?"**

**Jim shook his head. "No. I had been saving it to bribe the Easter Bunny for some extra candy." **

**Amy snorted then began to giggle, nodding her head as though she actually believed Jim's story… or at least that he might be capable of it.**

**While Jim and Amy waited in the hospital lobby, in a waiting room nearby, two unseen men were also waiting for Judge Lewis' release. They were dressed down in older clothes, though they did not appear to be comfortable in them or to be accustomed to them, and they were clearly making an effort to remain out of sight and inconspicuous.**

**One of the men peaked out the door then turned back to the other one… "I heard she beat him up pretty good."**

**The other man shrugged. "That's what I heard. He lost a lot of skin… and got some fractured ribs and stuff… and… uh… uh…"**

**"And what?"**

**"Well… it's just kind of a rumor, you know, that she, uh, tied it in a knot."**

**"It?"**

**"It."**

**"That's not possible. Somebody's putting you on. You're too gullible, Hawkins."**

**"I heard it from some pretty unimpeachable sources. I don't know. I wouldn't rule anything out where that woman's concerned, Hawthorn."**

**Hawthorn nodded. "Yeah, I know what she's capable of." **

**He paused to think about it then smiled. "No. Some things just can't be done, Hawkins… not even by her."**

**"Not even if it was a… a noodle?"**

**"Geez! Get real, Hawkins!"**

**Hawkins looked at the floor abashedly. "Sorry." **

**Hawthorn smiled, having apparently won this round, but he seemed to swallow a bit harder than usual. At that moment, the doctor walked out of Judge Lewis' room and headed for the lobby to speak with Sheriff Valenti. Hawkins and Hawthorn followed, staying out of sight.**

**"Ah, here's the Doc!" Jim said, walking toward the doctor, as the doctor walked into the lobby. "How's our favorite patient?"**

**"Alive," Doctor Maris said… "and ornery as ever. I'm glad to get rid of him, frankly, Jim. A few more days in here and he'd have this whole hospital turned into his offices… He seems to think we're all here just to run errands for him and do his bidding 24/7. I never saw an ego like that man's."**

**Jim shrugged. "That's too bad. I thought maybe after what Amy did to him he might have learned something."**

**Doctor Maris shook his head. "Well, I'll say one thing Jim. That wife of yours can tie a damned hard knot. That half hitch was the devil to get out. Nobody here could untie it. We wound up having to cut the whole thing off." Doctor Maris made a slicing motion in the air with his scalpel.**

**Amy smiled and blushed. Then, the emergency exit doors in the hallway opened suddenly, setting off an alarm. Doctor Maris ran to close the doors back and turn off the alarm.**

**"Some people never pay attention to signs, Jim. It clearly says, '_For Emergencies Only'_ right over the door… But do they read it? Huh? I ask you. Oh well… Whoever ran out these doors is gone now. I guess they were in too big a hurry to go through the lobby."**

**Jim nodded then turned to Amy. "I didn't know you knew how to tie a half-hitch, Amy. What did you tie a knot in?" **

**Amy smiled. "I pulled his feet up behind him and put 'em through his belt. Then I tied them there with his shoe laces."**

**"We like to never got his feet straightened back out, Jim," Doctor Maris added. "Nobody here could undo Amy's knots. We had to cut the laces and his belt off of him to get his feet out of his belt."**

**Jim looked at Amy. **

**"Hey," Amy shrugged. "I was mad. He was hurting Maria."**

**Jim nodded. "That wasn't my critical look, Amy… That was admiration." **

**Doctor Maris laughed, and a nurse walked into the lobby at that moment pushing Judge Lewis in a wheelchair.**

**"What? Somebody say something funny?" Judge Lewis barked angrily. "I'm suffering in here for two weeks after being almost killed and somebody thinks something's funny?"**

**Amy stepped out from behind Jim, and Judge Lewis sank into his chair, suddenly becoming quiet. **

**"Did I just see two men running out the emergency doors," the nurse asked. "They looked like they'd seen a ghost. They were falling all over each other trying to be the first one out."**

**Doctor Maris shrugged. "I don't know what their hurry was. I guess some people are just afraid of hospitals."**

**Jim nodded. "Well, let's get the Judge out to his car before any of his admirers outside realize he's been released."**

**Judge Lewis looked at Jim and narrowed his eyes. "Admirers? That was sarcasm, wasn't it, Jim?"**

**"How would you know that, Horace?" Jim asked. "You might have admirers… Don't you think?"**

**Judge Lewis didn't reply.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The gang gathers in Gray Hawk's new house for a house-warming party, and ex-generals Hawkins and Hawthorn corner Judge Lewis.**


	37. Dreams36

Author's Note: This all-new chapter is entirely different than chapter 72 in "The Four Faces Of Rath." In The "Four Faces Of Rath," the gang from Antar visits Gray Hawk in his new home. In "The Night The Dreams Died," the younger gang from earth visits Gray Hawk in his new home the next day. TFFOR is primarily about the Antarian gang while TNTDD is a story about the younger earth gang. Even though the two groups happen to be together right now and some chapters will therefore be the same for the moment, these two chapters are different. If you are following only this story, you may want to read chapter 72 in "The Four Faces Of Rath", too, to see what happened with the other gang at Gray Hawk's house. It's like getting a two for one! How can you lose? ;)

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Roll Over, Ancestor **

**(featuring the TNTDD Gang from earth)**

**Chapter 36**

**XXXVI**

**-**

****

**"Did you see Kyle this morning, Maria?"**

**"I think he's already gone down, Sheriff… I mean, Dad."**

**"Already?" Jim looked at his watch. "He spent the entire day there yesterday… with our alien doubles when they went to see Gray Hawk's new house. I was going to ask him if he wanted to go back this morning with us regular, uh, earthlings, but I guess that answers my question."**

**Maria smiled. "I think he's a bit preoccupied… with a certain other person there at Gray Hawk's house."**

**Jim knew exactly what… and whom… Maria was talking about, but he betrayed no sign of being aware. "I've never seen Kyle like this. The sun barely starts to come out… he's up and he's gone. Yesterday, he went to Gray Hawk's house with the aliens… today he's going again with us. Well, actually, he's already gone, I guess…"**

**"The 'aliens' are us, you know, Sher-… uh, Dad. They left earth and went to Antar years ago in their dimension. Well, some of them were born here anyway… our doubles were. Actually, if you really think about it, if they're aliens, so are we. Maybe someday we'll be out there somewhere in the stars and we'll be the aliens, huh?"**

**Jim laughed. "You'll have to get me off of earth first, Maria. I'm just a small town country boy sheriff, not Buck Rogers."**

**"That's what your double said he once said, too… Remember?"**

**"Yeah, I heard him, but he left under duress… they all did. The special unit was after them. It was either leave or be locked up forever… maybe tortured or killed. We don't have that problem here now."**

**"Not right now," Maria agreed cautiously. "But some of us did for a while. If they hadn't shown up from Antar to help us, we might have all disappeared forever or still be running to keep from getting caught. It could happen again… someday."**

**Jim shook his head. "No. Things are different here now. The whole world knows about the aliens… and about you and Michael and Max and the others. The whole world knows what happened to you guys here before the aliens came. And the whole world is… how can I say it… alien happy, no… alien crazy! They've adopted the aliens… and that includes everyone associated with them here… Max, Michael, Isabel, Angie Lee, Alex, and you and Liz especially. You're like their… I don't know…"**

**"Pets?"**

**"Well, that's what I was going to say, but it doesn't seem appropriate."**

**Maria nodded. "But that's kind of how some of them see us. There are people out there who are living in this sci-fi bubble-land storybook. When that bubble finally breaks, what will happen to us then? We're just fads. People get tired of fads… they discard them… or even worse. You don't see any of those pet rocks around anymore, do you? What do think happened to them? Huh?"**

**Jim smiled and shook his head. "Some things may be for the best, Maria. Anyway, we'll deal with that when it happens… if it happens. Maybe this is not as temporary as you think. They just have to learn to think of us as real people… to get to know us… and love us… or at least accept us. Besides, maybe if they get tired of us it'll be to our benefit. We'll be able to live private lives again."**

**Maria smiled and raised one eyebrow. "Us, Dad? Aha! You DO know you're special!"**

**"I'm not special, Maria. People just think I am. What can I do about it?"**

**Maria put an arm around Jim. "You are special. You're my Dad now. That makes you special. And Mom loves you. That makes you special. And you saved all our butts several times before the Antarians ever got here. So I think you're very special."**

**Jim smiled at Maria and gave her a wink. "Thanks, Maria. Let's just keep that 'special' stuff to ourselves, though, okay."**

**"Whatever," Maria said with a grin. **

**Jim knew the meaning of 'whatever,' especially coming from a teenager, and double especially when that teenager was Maria. He smiled and shook his head, knowing full well that he had just been over-ruled and was unable to do anything about it. And if the truth were known, perhaps he didn't really want to do anything about it. Somewhere deep down inside, like everyone else, Jim did enjoy praise. He just wasn't accustomed to accepting it.**

**"Ah, Max!" Jim said, happy to change the subject, as Max approached. "Are we about ready to go see Gray Hawk's new house?"**

**Max nodded. "Michael's right behind me with Alex, Isabel, and Liz. Amy's coming, too. As soon as they all get here we can go. Nobody's seen Gray Hawk's new house yet… well, except Gray Hawk, of course… and our doubles when they went down to see it yesterday. They're keeping it all a big secret, though. It's sort of a big production."**

**Maria raised her eyebrows again and smiled. "You think they built him, like, a mansion or something?"**

**Max smiled at Maria and shook his head. "Nothing like that. Rumor has it, though, that most of the houses finished so far did get an extra bedroom or a carport… or a pow-wow room, like Gray Hawk wanted. Michael approved it. He didn't think it was asking too much. I think the government was just happy they weren't being sued and that they got off so easy after what happened on the reservation."**

**Maria and Jim both laughed.**

**"Here they are now," Max said, nodding toward Michael, Liz, Alex, and Isabel. Amy walked up right behind them. "You guys ready?"**

**"Ready and raring," Michael said. "I'm anxious to know what my double did with Gray Hawk's house. He won't even tell me… and he's ME! It's like I'm keeping secrets from myself!"**

**Everyone laughed, then Max pointed toward the ascension chamber. "Everyone inside. Let's get down there to the Reservation."**

**Eighteen minutes later, Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, Alex, Isabel, Jim, and Amy were standing in front of Gray Hawk's house. The first thing they noticed was a large, shady, covered porch spanning the entire front of the house. Gray Hawk had not had a porch before. Size-wise, the house itself looked only slightly larger than before. The yard was fixed up nicer, both in front and in back. No longer was the front yard just bare dirt… It was thick green grass now. And Michael could see something that looked like an Indian handball court in the back yard.**

**Max knocked on the door, and it opened. Standing in the door was Kyle, with Angie Lee beside him.**

**Michael exhaled emphatically. "Oh great! He's moved in already!"**

**Maria laughed, and Jim narrowed his eyes, trying to appear stern.**

**"Come on in everyone," Kyle said, opening the door for them. **

**"Did Gray Hawk forget he's supposed to keep the scalps of guys like you who come looking for his daughter… uh, granddaughter… nailed over his fireplace," Michael asked. "I'm surprised he's being so easy going about all of this."**

**Kyle grinned. "I'm just visiting, too, Michael… just for a little longer than you are, that's all. I wasn't here last night."**

**"Oh, well that sets our minds at ease," Michael said with a touch of good-natured sarcasm.**

**Liz shoved Michael on the arm. "Give him a break, Michael. You've got Maria, Isabel's got Alex, I've got Max. Kyle has a right to find some happiness, too."**

**Michael grinned a sort of lopsided grin. "I didn't say he couldn't be happy. Did I say he couldn't be happy? I just wanted to see how a real scalping is done. Gray Hawk's letting me down here."**

**Kyle rolled his eyes. "You're a real pal, Michael. I'll remember!"**

**Kyle led the group through the house, passing through the living room and down the hall past five doors, two more than had been there previously. Angie Lee explained that the two new doors were to a new bedroom and a new bathroom. Finally, they came to a room in the back. "This is Gray Hawk's pow-wow room," Kyle said. "He's very proud of it. He's waiting to show it to you."**

**"It's great!" Angie Lee exulted. "I could spend all day in there!"**

**Maria looked surprised then laughed. "You like to pow-wow, Angie Lee? Isn't that like where a bunch of Indians… mostly old men… get together and smoke a peace pipe or plan wars or talk about hunting trips or something?"**

**"Yeah… it can be that," Angie Lee agreed. "But it's just a place where everyone can come together to talk or to have fun… even me."**

**Max smiled, imagining Angie Lee sitting cross-legged on the ground passing a peace pipe around a fire with a bunch of old Mesaliko Indians.**

**"What does Kyle think of it," Michael asked.**

**"Do I like the pow-wow room?" Kyle asked, rephrasing Michael's question. "I love it! Angie Lee and I have already spent a lot of time there."**

**That picture was too much for Michael, and he snorted then tried to muffle his laughter.**

**Kyle opened the door, and everyone gazed upon a large room, decorated with Indian trophies on the two side walls and a curtain covering the far wall. In the center of the room were several rows of very comfortable-looking plush reclining seats, like a fancy theater might have.**

**Max surmised that there was a pit behind the curtain where a fire could be lit and ritual dancing could take place.**

**"Come in," Angie Lee said. "But watch your step when you come in. It's a sunken room."**

**"Sit," Gray Hawk ordered, stepping into the room behind everyone else. Everyone did.**

**Angie Lee turned a dial on the wall, and the lights began to dim. Then music came on.**

**"You have a stereo system in here?" Max asked.**

**"The very best," Kyle replied for Gray Hawk. "You can lean back and listen to CD's, tapes, whatever you want. It comes out a group of speakers surrounding the room."**

**Max did have to admit that it was soothing. The music seemed to come from everywhere at once. He wondered what a system like that would cost. But the soothing effect was the result of more than just the music. The room seemed to amplify the music while keeping all outside sounds out. It was essentially sound-proof and acoustically arranged. If one leaned back in the seat and looked at the ceiling, the lights disappeared as they dimmed, to be replaced by a twinkling, starry-sky effect, which gave the feeling of being outdoors at night.**

**"I may go to sleep," Liz said. **

**Maria giggled. "Me, too." Maria leaned against Michael, and Michael drew her closer to him and into his arms. Max put his arm around Liz, and she laid her head on his chest and listened to the music. Alex had Isabel in his seat with him, her face next to his, their arms entwined, as they both watched the starry sky effect together to the music.**

**Just when everyone was comfortable, Gray Hawk flipped a switch and the curtain began to open in front of them. At first, they watched curiously but nonchalantly, then everyone sat up bolt upright at once…**

**Maria gasped. "Omigod! Is that a TV?"**

**Gray Hawk smiled. "Flat-screen, wide-vision, plasma. One hundred sixty inches." **

**"It covers most of the wall," Kyle added, as though that fact were not already abundantly clear.**

**"I didn't know they made them that big," Maria said.**

**Kyle smiled and nodded. "Some sports bars have them. You have to have a big room to put them in… and a whole free wall."**

**"That's incredible," Max said, whistling softly. "That's the biggest one I've seen personally. It's like a regular… theater almost!"**

**"Better!" Amy exulted, as she cuddled up to Jim in the back row. "It's more private… and more comfortable."**

**"We can watch videos or DVD's or watch TV on the screen," Angie Lee said. "Pretty cool, huh? We can even play games on it."**

**Max looked at Gray Hawk. "Is this what you had in mind, Gray Hawk, when you said you wanted a pow-wow room?"**

**Gray Hawk smiled. "Something like this. Michael helped me with the details."**

**"I'll bet he did," Max said. **

**Kyle laughed, and Michael nodded, knowing his double as he did… It was something he might have done himself… if he'd had the money to do it and the opportunity had been given to him. It didn't surprise him that his Antarian double had approved this… or even that he had, in all likelihood, encouraged it… or at least the grander elements of it. Michael guessed that somewhere between twenty and forty thousand dollars, maybe more, went into this home theater alone, including building the room itself; but even at that, Michael was sure that the guys in the government were counting their blessings and sighing with relief that they got off as easy as they did. Even if every Mesaliko got a pow-wow room like this, which Michael doubted, the government still got off quite easy. Michael nodded appreciatively, admitting to himself that he had gained a whole new respect for his Antarian double.**

**"There's one more thing you need to see," Angie Lee said, as she got up and lifted Kyle's arm off of her with a smile and a wink.**

**"If you want to, we can watch a movie, like the others did yesterday. Or…"**

**Angie Lee flipped a switch on the wall, and the floor began to move. Everyone hung onto their seats, as the floor seemed to come apart, spiraling open in concentric circles that slowly carried the seats with them to the sides of the room. It turned out that the seats were attached to three concentric segments of a false floor that opened much in the way the lens of a camera or the iris of the eye does. The real floor lay just underneath. **

**Angie Lee changed the music and walked to the center of the room, which was now totally clear of any obstructions. The seats were lined up neatly near the walls in a sort of huge, wide-open circle surrounding the central arena. Angie Lee began to sway to the music then smiled and reached out her hand toward Kyle. Kyle blushed noticeably, shaking his head and protesting that he wasn't much of a dancer, but he joined Angie Lee anyway. **

**Everyone applauded, as Kyle spun Angie Lee around then pulled her close, their bodies moving together to the beat of the music, as the starry "sky" effect on the ceiling twinkled above them in the subdued light of the room. Isabel and Alex quickly joined Angie Lee and Kyle on the dance floor. Then Maria pulled Michael in, followed by Amy, who pulled Jim in with her. Finally, Liz and Max stood up. Max knew that he wasn't getting out of this. What surprised him was the realization that he didn't want to. Max watched Liz sway to the music, her face beautifully bathed in the glow of a radiant smile, and he remembered her sitting in a wheelchair. How very far she'd come!**

**Liz reached out her hand, and Max took it. Then she spun toward him and into his arms with a movement as graceful as any Max had ever seen. Max found himself moving to the music with her… and watching Liz dance like she had never danced before. **

**As the beat of the music throbbed in their bodies and the haunting strains of the tune infused the very air around them with life, Liz swirled and spun… she leapt and swayed… she pirouetted and dipped. Max moved to the beat with her, holding out his hand again. Liz took it, and Max pulled her to him, lifting her gently yet easily into the air on strong arms. Like a graceful swan soaring for the very first time from a previously earthbound existence into the glorious infinite blue sky above, Liz rose lightly into the air. She held out her arms, balancing on Max's gentle hands, losing herself in the moment. It was freeing. It was cathartic. It was wonderful.**

**Gently… in total harmony with the music… Max lowered Liz back to the ground, as he turned gracefully… more gracefully than he had realized he was capable of… on his feet. Liz touched the floor lightly, like a feather floating down, then her feet gracefully propelled her back into the air in a spin, followed by another pirouette on her toes.**

**Applause filled the air from every side of the room. In the emotions of the moment, Liz had not even realized that she and Max had literally cleared the dance floor. They had become the main attraction, the single attraction, and everyone… absolutely everyone… was loving it.**

**Liz had become one with the music, moving to the beat as though it were part of her. She spun again, letting her hair fly slowly in the air like a wide wave rolling in on the ocean around her. Then she stopped, cocked her head slightly to the left and the right, and smiled radiantly at Max, as hair fell gently back over her in all directions. Max smiled back, finally losing himself in the joy that was Liz.**

**Max dropped to the floor then leapt upward, high into the air, spinning, with his arms tucked in near his chest. As his feet touched the ground, his hands reached out to Liz, who placed her hands in his. Max pulled her close and turned her around with him three times, as Liz leaned back, allowing her body to be supported by Max's strong arms, her eyes watching the room spin around and around behind her with joyous abandon. **

**Max pulled Liz gently back to an upright position and held her in his arms for a moment, as they swayed together to the music, their faces touching cheek to cheek. Secretly, irresistibly, Liz unbuttoned Max's shirt. Then he swirled away from her and she from him, as if knowing each other's intentions intimately, both of them releasing each other's hands simultaneously at the last moment. Liz turned around once on her toes then stood, swaying to the beat, holding Max's shirt in her hand, an immutable grin on her face, her feet moving in small, rhythmic steps, as Max sashayed around her, gazing deeply into her eyes… into her soul… the smile on his face almost as irresistible as the one on hers, his body rippling with every movement, with every flexing muscle.**

**Moving away, Max turned around twice rapidly then took a short running leap, rotating in the air and landing on his hands in a back flip. Liz watched, smiling deliriously, then took one final spin of her own, holding Max's shirt over her head, allowing it to wave high in the air like a victory pennant. **

**As the dance came to an end, Liz fell joyously into Max's arms, and Max held her there. Lovingly moving some strands of hair off of her face with one hand while holding her close with the other, he kissed her breathlessly; and she responded, returning his kiss with interest paid in passion.**

**As if that was her cue, Angie Lee put on Ivy's "Edge Of The Ocean." Max held Liz close to him, and their two bodies swayed slowly to the music together. Then everyone else returned to the dance floor, enjoying their own moment and leaving Max and Liz to theirs. One by one, the songs played… and the couples danced… to Ivy… "Edge Of The Ocean," Sarah McLachlan singing "Blackbird," BoA's "Number 1," Heather Nova doing "What A Feeling," a reggae band singing "Feeling Hot, Hot, Hot," Lidia singing "I Will Always Love You", Michelle Branch singing "You Get Me", Hilary Duff doing "Irresistible," another BoA song, "Valenti", Robbie Neville singing "C'est La Vie," Christina Aguilera singing "Genie In A Bottle," a favorite of Maria's, and many more. Time was all but forgotten. It didn't matter anymore… not now… not at this moment. This moment was timeless. This moment was theirs. In some ways, this moment would always be… and nothing could ever take it away.**

**tbc**


	38. Dreams37

The Night The Dreams Died 

**A Fox In The Night**

**Chapter 37**

**XXXVII******

**Judge Lewis looked up when the door of his office opened and two people let themselves in without knocking. His first thought was that Culpepper had returned, but he knew that that wasn't going to happen. He had heard what had happened to Culpepper, and he knew that Culpepper would not be coming back. And without Culpepper, the two agents who were always with him would likely not be returning either.**

**The two who had just walked in were either some new kind of aliens or the ugliest women Judge Lewis had ever seen. Either way, not what he would have wanted to look at at 8:30 in the morning, before he had even had his coffee. Their dresses didn't fit well, their hats… hats? Hats like these hadn't been in style since the turn of the century, but he guessed that with wigs like these two were wearing the hats were probably preferable. He couldn't imagine why the big lady in front had one breast hanging at least ten inches lower than the other one.**

**"What can I do for you ladies? You really should knock before just coming in…"**

**The two "ladies" raised their improvised veils and Judge Lewis got a look at their faces, badly applied lipstick, and… five o'clock stubble? My God, these women are ugly he thought to himself right before recognition hit him…**

**"General Hawkins? General Hawthorne? What… what are you doing here? The whole Army is looking for you two! If they catch you, you'll both be in the brig waiting for a court martial before the hour's out."**

**"Your concern is touching, Judge," Hawkins said with a touch of sarcasm. "It's wonderful to know you have our interests at heart."**

**"I didn't say that," Judge Lewis replied truthfully, knowing that they knew it anyway. "I'm just surprised that you two would be careless enough to appear… so publicly like this."**

**"We didn't make any guest appearance announcements," Hawthorne said. "This is sort of… let's say, an impromptu appearance… off the record… you know what I mean? If I were you, Judge, I'd be more concerned about what's going to happen to YOU."**

**Judge Lewis swallowed a lump in his throat. "I'm a free man, General. They've got nothing on me."**

**"Oh, they've got plenty on you, Judge. They just don't have what they need to prosecute you yet. Not like… say… what we could give them."**

**Judge Lewis turned vaguely pale. "Listen, I spent two weeks in the hospital already. I've been punished enough for anything I might have done."**

**General Hawkins grinned. "That opinion might be open to some debate. And we heard about your little cat and dogfight with Amy DeLuca… or is she Valenti now? No matter. She tied you up pretty good, I heard."**

**Hawthorne snickered.**

**Judge Lewis looked at Hawkins sullenly. "Yeah… so what? I wasn't at my best. I was… under the weather that day."**

**"I heard you were under Amy," Hawthorne said, "and your screams weren't screams of passion… though by some accounts they may have sounded a bit, uh… what was the word they used… Oh yeah… effeminate."**

**Judge Lewis' face darkened. "You've obviously never had the hair ripped out of your armpits or had your feet pulled up behind your back and stuck under your belt then been hogtied like that with your shoelaces for hours."**

**"I heard she tied something in a knot," Hawkins said, "but it wasn't your shoelaces."**

**Judge Lewis gave Hawkins a puzzled look, clearly at a loss as to what he meant. "I don't know what you're talking about, General. She tied my feet to my belt with my shoelaces. They had to cut them off in the hospital."**

**"Your shoelaces?"**

**Judge Lewis nodded. "Don't look so disappointed, General. What did you think they cut off… my feet?"**

**"I told you it wasn't possible," General Hawthorne said, turning to General Hawkins.**

**"Well… I know anyone else couldn't have done it," Hawkins replied defensively, "but to that woman, 'can't' is merely a challenge. I don't think she even knows the word is in the dictionary. I wouldn't consider anything to be beyond her ability… if she was mad enough."**

**General Hawthorne nodded. "Hum… you're probably right, Hawkins. I could've used a few thousand like her in the army."**

**Hawkins smiled, noticing Judge Lewis' involuntary reaction. "Was that a shudder I just saw, Judge?"**

**"What is it you guys want from me," Judge Lewis asked with a scowl. "I'm trying to keep a low profile. I don't want anything to do with you two right now. Do you know what it's like to walk into a restaurant or other public place and have everyone else get up and leave… or boo you? I was just walking to my office yesterday, minding my own business, and a little kid walked up to me and smiled then kicked me in the shin. All that damned television coverage and that woman who's a friend of the aliens' have turned me into a walking pariah. I may never be able to practice law in this town again… at least as a judge. I'm on censure right now."**

**"What does that mean?" Hawkins asked.**

**"I can't hear any cases… until they remove the censure. I'm restricted to office work only. I can't even pass any judgments on cases I was following before this all happened."**

**"Well, that's just because Hawkins and I aren't there to pull strings for you. Or Culpepper… but he won't be coming back, I guess. If you want your old authority and power back you have to play ball with us, Judge… scratch our backs, too, as they say… help us get back into the army's graces… protect our image… give us the alibis we need. You never were anything without us anyway. You know that. We made you what you were… We protected you… We gave you the real power."**

**Judge Lewis knew that what Hawthorne had said was largely true, but he wasn't thrilled about becoming involved in more of what had already brought him so much trouble… and possibly having to face Amy's wrath again. **

**"At least I'm sitting here in my office, General… and everyone knows where I am. You two are hiding out somewhere and, obviously, uh…" Judge Lewis glanced over their clothes and faces again, then smirked… "running around in disguise. Frankly, I don't see what you can do for me at all, gentlemen… and I use that term very questionably under the circumstances. You still haven't told me what it is you want from me.**

**"Didn't we?" Hawthorne asked with a definite dramatic flair. "I'm sorry, Judge. Hawkins, tell him what we want." **

**                                          ----------**

**Miles away from Judge Lewis' office, much later in the day, a group of friends who were in happier spirits walked along the road leading from the Mesaliko Reservation. It was after 7:30 PM, and the sun would soon be setting. They had been at Gray Hawk's since early morning. Now they had to return to the transporter point and to the New Granolith, the place they had all called their temporary home in recent days, some for longer than others. **

**Max chased Liz, reveling in the miraculous wonder of her recent "cure," and Liz ran, giggling, along the road in front of him. Michael and Maria alternately flirted and ran from each other. Alex and Isabel walked hand in hand, smiling dreamily. Kyle and Angie Lee occasionally came up for air long enough to see that they were still walking the right way. **

**This was a giddy time… a time the likes of which none of them had been able to enjoy for longer than any of them could remember. Lighthearted gaiety had given way to dark seriousness –life and death seriousness- on one fateful night almost a year before. Nothing had been the same since that night… graduation night. True, the group had managed to keep a cautious sense of humor and spirit, which had helped them through the darkest times… helped them to survive. It was in their beings, a part of them that could not be denied. But until today, nothing like this had happened. The dance at Gray Hawk's house was more than just a dance. It was a beginning. It was a huge infusion of life… and of all the good, all the happiness, all the joy of living that life had to offer. **

**Watching Kyle and Angie Lee walking with their eyes closed and lips locked together for longer than he thought was advisable, Rahn gave in to the urge to offer his help. **

**"Kyle, would you like me to guide you," Rahn asked seriously. "I am afraid that you or Angie Lee will walk off of the road and fall into a ditch or something." **

**"If they do, they won't notice," Alex quipped, astutely judging the young couple's mounting feelings for each other. "We could just leave them there and come back and get them tomorrow, and they wouldn't know the difference. I don't think the world they're in right now has roads, Rahn."**

**Jim smiled and shook his head, and Amy grinned and put her arm around Jim's waist.**

**"You keep walking on that side of them Rahn," Jim said, motioning with one hand. "Amy and I'll be here on this side. If they start to walk the wrong way one of us can turn them back around and aim them the right way again."**

**Rahn nodded. Isabel snickered, and Alex grinned, trying hard, but unsuccessfully, to stifle a laugh of his own. Then he kissed Isabel. As their lips parted after several long moments, Alex smiled at her…**

**"Well, who says our world has to have roads? Kyle could be on to something. I can't let him have all the fun!"**

**Isabel smiled.**

**Max guided them into a nearby field where the transporter had been focused, but as they neared the site, Max stopped everyone suddenly. **

**"Michael… who's that?"**

**Michael looked across the field. There was a strange man standing on the other side of the field… and he looked like he was searching for something. Was it coincidence that he was standing in that precise spot? Both of them knew it was possible, but doubt was written all over Michael's face.**

**"We gave the transporter code to 173 Mesalikos and a few other people," Jim said. "He could be one of them… but I don't recognize him."**

**"He doesn't look like a Mesaliko," Michael agreed. "Maybe he's just out here for an innocent walk in the evening air or something." Then he added cautiously, "but I doubt it. He's looking for something."**

**"Yeah… yeah, he is," Max agreed. As they watched, the man triggered the transporter, and suddenly he was gone… into the ship above. Max looked at Michael and Michael at him.**

**"I'm going to find out who he is," Michael said, as they hurried to the transporter point. "I don't like this."**

**"Maybe it's nothing," Isabel said. "We did give the transporter code to a lot of people."**

**"The Mesalikos… and a few friends… no one else," Max said gravely. "He didn't look like any of them to me."**

**"Yeah, I have to agree with Max," Michael said. "We have to find out who he is."**

**Jim nodded, also appearing concerned. Max pressed the code on the transporter in his hand, and the group disappeared into the ship together.**

**"Kyle!" Jim said, giving Kyle a gentle whack on the back of the head. "We're back."**

**Kyle separated his lips slowly from Angie Lee's then looked around. "We're back on the ship? When did that happen?"**

**Jim closed his eyes and shook his head.**

**"It's like trying to pull two magnets apart," Alex mused. "Their lips just get sucked back together whenever they look at each other." Alex closed the fingers on both his hands and let them fly together to illustrate.**

**"You're just jealous," Kyle said, then he looked at Angie Lee, and their lips slowly drew together again.**

**Alex nodded. "Yep! Magnets!"**

**                                          ----------**

**The next day, having never found the mysterious man or anyone who had seen him on the ship, Max and Michael from Antar and Max and Michael from earth transported down together to oversee some of the final work on the Reservation. They usually avoided being seen together, but it was almost inevitable sometimes. Jim would stay on the ship and watch for any sign of the mysterious man on the ship while they were gone… if the man was even still there.**

**As they walked toward the Reservation, a short walk of only about half a mile from the transporter point, a car drove up the road behind them then pulled up beside them. The man in the car gazed intently at Max and his counterpart then stopped his car.**

**"You two… get in."**

**Max looked at his double then at Michael then back at the man in the car.**

**"Why?"**

**"You are Max, aren't you… the alien, Max? Oh… I'm sorry. It's just that I need you… just for a few minutes! Please! Are you Max?"**

**Max from Antar nodded. His earth double looked at him as if to seek his approval, then cautiously, he nodded, too.**

**"I'm afraid you're going to have to give me a little more to go on than just that you need me for a few minutes," Max from Antar said. **

**The man appeared flustered. "I'm… I'm sorry. It's just that I don't have much time. My little boy was hit by a truck this morning riding his bike. The doctors… say he won't make it." Tears began to fall down the man's face. "He's only five years old."**

**Max looked at his double again, and without answering, both of them got into the car. Michael and his double jumped in with them.**

**"Sorry, Max," Michael said. "If you go, I'm going, too."**

**Max nodded. Ten minutes later, the car pulled up to the emergency entrance of Roswell General Hospital. The man got out and motioned to Max to follow. Both of them did. So did both Michaels. They walked quickly down the hall to the ICU, and the man opened the door and motioned them inside. On a bed near the window, attached to more tubes than Max cared to count, was a little boy. He was badly injured, that was clear. It broke Max's heart to look at him. Max looked at the doctor who was standing nearby, and the doctor shook his head.**

**"How long?" the father asked.**

**The doctor shrugged. "Hours… minutes. He's already gone, really, Oren. You know that. He's only being kept alive now…"**

**"They can help," the man insisted, indicating Max and his double. "They can save him. I saw them make bullet wounds disappear on TV when they were being chased on the Reservation."**

**The doctor looked at Max. It was true that the younger Max from earth had healed several Mesalikos who had been shot while they were on the run together on the Reservation, and the act had been captured by the cameras and shown on TV. But surprisingly few people had actually picked up on what had really happened in the flurry of the overall drama that was going on. Most of them just assumed that Max had checked the injured Mesalikos out then helped them to get back up. **

**Max from Antar walked over to the boy and put his hands over the boy's body then grimaced. He could feel the pain of the child's injuries as he took the healing of his wounds onto himself. Max looked at his counterpart, and the younger Max placed his hands over the boy, too. Their hands began to glow. Slowly, they moved their hands from one part of the child's body to another… then another… then yet another… repairing broken bones, a torn spleen, a ripped and punctured lung, a badly bruised kidney, a fractured skull…**

**As they finished and the glow of their hands began to ebb, the boy coughed. Then he opened his eyes. Startled to find himself hooked up to every imaginable kind of tube, the child struggled to sit up and pull the tubes out. At first, the shocked doctor and several nearby nurses attempted to prevent him from pulling them out, but as the reality of what had just happened came over him, the doctor helped the boy to remove them. As the last tube came out, the child jumped into his father's arms, leaving the doctor and nurses speechless.**

**Tears streamed down the man's face, as he kissed his son then looked back and forth at both Maxes. "How can I ever thank you? How can I ever thank you enough?"**

**"You just did," Max from Antar said, as his counterpart from earth nodded. Both Maxes were tired, but they felt good. They had healed a child who, only moments before, had been at the edge of death. It felt good. Seeing the father's face made it even better. **

**"Gentlemen," the doctor said cautiously to Max and his double, "I… I need your help. Please."**

**Max from Antar looked at his double, and they both had a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Healing the little boy had been draining, but at the same time, the satisfaction it had brought them had given them strength to go on. That strength wasn't inexhaustible, though. If what they feared the doctor was going to ask them to do… if he wanted them to heal more people… maybe even everyone in the hospital… they wouldn't be able to do it. They could literally kill themselves with exhaustion and still never heal everyone. And what would people think if they couldn't heal them after they had healed others, Max wondered. Would they understand? Would they just let them go? Max looked at Michael, and for once, Michael seemed to be at a loss for a response. Michael was asking himself all the same questions. There were people here who needed them. They couldn't be blamed for wanting Max's help… especially people who were dying or critically ill or whose child, husband, wife, mother, or father was dying or critically ill. Max was a healer. No… they weren't going to understand that he was not a superman… that he was also mortal and exhaustible… especially if he healed others then not them. Max was sure of it.**

**                                           ----------**

**As the call to dinner sounded on the New Granolith, Liz found Max… and his younger double… stumbling toward their rooms.**

**"Aren't you guys headed the wrong way?" Dinner's about to be served."**

**Max from Antar shook his head. "You go ahead, Liz. I'm too tired. I'm just going to get some sleep if you don't mind."**

**The younger Max mumbled a weak, "Me, too," then walked into his room and closed the door. Max from Antar walked on to his own room then opened the door and went in, throwing himself headlong onto the bed. Actually, "falling" headlong onto the bed might have been a more accurate description. Liz, who had come in behind him, closed the door and sat down beside him, running her hand gently over Max's back, arms, and legs.**

**"Max… what in the world did you do? I don't remember ever seeing you like this. You're totally exhausted."**

**"We healed a little boy who had been run over by a truck on his bicycle," Max managed weakly.**

**Liz gasped slightly and then smiled. "That's wonderful! But you've healed people before, Max. It's never tired you out this much."**

**"The boy's doctor had a few more people he wanted us to heal," Max said weakly.**

**"More… How many more?"**

**"I don't know. We lost count. Each time we healed another one the nurses or the doctor were bringing two more in for us to heal. I think they wanted us to heal everyone in the hospital."**

**"Can you do that? I mean… is that possible for you… physically?"**

**"No. Too many people. It takes too much out of me… out of us. We had to try, though. We promised to go back and heal the others tomorrow."**

**Liz looked concerned. "And what then, Max? I mean… it's wonderful that you can heal all those people, but even both of you together could never even begin to heal all the people who need help in the world… and you would never have time for anything else if you tried. I'm… I'm just afraid that once you've started doing this and word gets around… you're life… and Max's life here… will become… well… captive. Everyone will expect you to do nothing but heal people twenty-four hours a day."**

**"I'm sure they'd let us have weekends off," Max mumbled, only a bit jokingly.**

**"People die on weekends, Max… Death and illness take no holidays."**

**"You sound like Michael."**

**Liz closed her eyes and rubbed Max's back again. "Then Michael is right, Max. You have to stop this… before it goes too far. Oh, God! Listen to me! I sound so horrible, don't I… so cold… and heartless?"**

**Max rolled over and looked at Liz then wiped a teardrop off her cheek.**

**"You're not cold or heartless, Liz. You're the most caring person I've ever known. You're just concerned. And you have a right to be. I am, too. I just don't know what to do about it. We kept our identities so carefully guarded and secret when we were growing up on earth in our dimension… this problem never really came up. I mean… I healed you… and Jim… and Kyle before we left earth, but the whole world wasn't clamoring for our help there. No one else knew. It's so different here in this dimension. Now that the world knows who we are… who they are… our doubles here will never be able to live private lives again. WE can always go back to Antar in our dimension when this is over… but what about them… our doubles? And what do we do now… when everyone wants to be healed and we know that if we don't heal them… many of them will die? I understand now why Michael was so upset every time we used any of our powers on earth when we were growing up… and when I healed you after you were shot."**

**Liz nodded, understanding Max's dilemma. "Would you do it differently now if you could do it over, Max?"**

**"What? Healing you? Of course not, Liz! I still would. It was… It was you."**

**"No… would you tell the doctor… and that father… that you couldn't help his little boy… or the others… if you could do it over again?"**

**Max thought about it then shook his head slowly.**

**Liz smiled and nodded knowingly. "You did what had to be done, Max. Don't beat yourself up over it now trying to second-guess your heart. What you will have to do now is find a way to live with what's been done."**

**"Our doubles," Max clarified. "Our doubles will have to live with it. I wonder if they can."**

**"Then you have to come up with alternatives for them, Max… in case they can't."**

**Max nodded then kissed Liz. "What would I do without you, Liz?" Then his head slumped onto the bed and he was asleep. Liz gently covered him up and stood there looking at him for several long moments. Then she smiled, kissed him on the cheek, and left the room, turning out the light and closing and locking the door behind her with a wave of her hand over a sensor pad beside the door.**

**Sixty feet down the hall, she knocked on the door to Michael's room to see if he was there.**

**"It's unlocked. Come in."**

**Liz opened the door.**

**"Oh, Liz! Come in!"**

**"Michael! Were you with Max when he healed the little boy and all the others today?"**

**Michael nodded. "I should have seen it coming, Liz. I let my guard down. I'm sorry."**

**"I'm not here to blame anyone, Michael. You couldn't have done anything else. At least, you couldn't have lived with yourself if you had."**

**"I would have stopped Max before, Liz… when we were younger. I didn't think about, you know, what would happen to others so much then. I just knew what had to be done… to protect us… to protect Max. I've lost that edge. I may have lost my usefulness as a general… as a soldier… and your protector."**

**"You haven't lost anything, Michael. You've gained something."**

**"What? A heart?" Michael asked, predicting Liz's response. "I'm not sure it's a good thing for me to have, Liz… maybe for any of us to have. How can I have a friggin' bleeding heart and protect us from people who don't understand us at all… people who consider us as just aliens?"**

**Liz smiled… "Like Kiraugo?"**

**Michael flushed then looked at the wall. Liz knew the reaction she would get when she mentioned the name of the little Dragon child from Drago. Michael and the others had saved the Dragon children… and many other alien children… even though the Dragons were their enemies; and Kiraugo had leapt into Michael's arms and hugged and kissed him. In fact, the Dragons became their allies, and every time Kiraugo saw Michael after that, he leapt into his arms again, much to Michael's dismay. But he couldn't deny to himself that he loved that little Dragon child.**

**"You let your heart guide you when you saved those children, Michael… children of our mortal enemies. And because of that, they're our allies and friends now… and their society has even changed in a lot of ways. Antar has over two hundred new ally planets because you saved their children… because you had a heart. It isn't HAVING a heart that's the problem, Michael. It's NOT HAVING ONE that's the problem… the fact that not everyone has one… that's the problem."**

**"Well, yeah, I know that, Liz, but how can you blame someone who may have a day or two left to live for wanting Max to heal them? They don't think about the effects on him… even when he's dropping over from exhaustion. A lot of people lose sight of their reason when they're under stress. It doesn't mean they don't have a heart. They just can't find a place for it in the little time they have left to… you know… find a miracle or something."**

**"And you understand that, Michael. That's an enormous advantage to everyone. We have to find a way to control the situation now somehow. We can't beat ourselves up for not doing anything differently in the past. It couldn't be helped. The future can be controlled, though. That's where we all need you the most, Michael… to find a way to protect our futures, not to fret about perceived past mistakes that couldn't be helped anyway. We all count on you to guarantee our futures… not our pasts."**

**"Thanks, Liz. But how can I guarantee our futures if I couldn't even protect our pasts?"**

**"You have already, Michael, and against all the odds. We all know that. So do you… somewhere deep inside you. Give yourself a little credit."**

**Michael was silent for several moments, then he looked at Liz. "Let's do some planning."**

**                                            ----------**

**In the darkness, Max slept. He was dead tired. Everything was silent except for the soft, rhythmic sound of Max's breathing, but it's doubtful even the blaring of an air horn over his head would have stirred him much, so it wasn't odd at all that he didn't hear the sound of the hand that somehow unlocked his door… or the feather-quiet steps that walked across the floor of his room to his bedside. The man looked at Max for a moment then reached down with one strong hand and pressed on a soft spot right behind Max's temple and on a nerve behind his ear simultaneously. Seconds later, he released Max and quickly left the room, closing the door back behind him. In the room, all was now quiet.**

**tbc**


	39. Dreams38

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Alarm**

**Chapter 38**

**XXXVIII******

**Even though there was no official edict on the New Granolith that dinner had to wait on Liz or on Max, the fact is, everyone would wait if they were late. It had happened before even though Max had asked them not to do it. Liz knew that if she didn't put in an appearance there would be a lot of hungry people sitting around the table. So she made her appearance, made excuses for Max, and grabbed a quick obligatory bite before excusing herself from the table and hurrying back to Max. **

**Walking down the hall, Liz met her younger double coming the other way.**

**"How's Max doing… uh, your Max, I mean… Is he still sleeping, too?" **

**The younger Liz shook her head. "Apparently not. I thought he'd sleep all night… the two of them were so exhausted… but when I went to his room a little while ago he had gone somewhere. I would've thought he'd have told me where he was going."**

**Liz from Antar shook her head and smiled. "Well, your Max is still a teenager. He probably recuperated faster than my Max. Of course, Max wouldn't like it if he heard me say that. He's so proud of his physique. He rolls out of bed in the morning as soon as the alarm goes off and starts doing push-ups before he even gets dressed. I have to have a cup of coffee before I can just open my eyes all the way."**

**The younger Liz laughed. "I doubt that… I've seen you in the morning. You look pretty good. Besides, you two aren't really much older than us."**

**"We've got children who are almost teenagers… before long… well, in a few years… some of them."**

**The younger Liz smiled. "I wish I could meet them… again. They're kind of my children, too, in a way… I mean you being me and all. It's weird knowing that somewhere, even if it is in another dimension and all, I've got children… four of them!"**

**"Five," Liz corrected, grinning.**

**"Oh, that's right! Jeffy! I saw them, you know, in my visions before you came to earth… I mean before you came to our dimension… or whatever. Omigod, I think that's just so incredible!"**

**"You met them, too… remember?" Liz from Antar reminded her younger double. "…When you and Alex popped in on us on Antar."  
  
"Yeah, I know… That's why I said I wish I could meet them 'again.' I didn't really get to spend much time with them… except Jayyd. She was such a darling! I wish I had her here! You know, all that almost seems like it was a dream now. I mean… I know it happened, but it just seems so unreal. Sometimes I have to go back and reread things in my diary just to convince myself that they really happened and weren't just… you know… a dream."**

**Liz of Antar laughed. "I know. I do the same thing… about a lot of things. You wouldn't believe all the things I've seen since I went to Antar. It is a bit unbelievable… even for me! I go back and reread it in my diary and it's like, wow! Did that really happen to me?"**

**The younger Liz nodded vigorously. "That's me! That's how I feel exactly!"**

**"Let's check on my Max," the older Liz said. "Maybe he'll know where your Max went."**

**The younger Liz followed her Antarian double to her room. "Let me peek in on him first," the Antarian Liz said, passing her hand over the scanner by the door. The door opened, and a moment later, she motioned for the younger Liz to come in.**

**"He's gone, too. Maybe the two of them went somewhere together."**

**The younger Liz stared at the bed. "Did your Max drop into bed with his shoes still on, too?"**

**"Yeah, he did. He was pretty tired. I took them off of him after he was in bed."**

**"They must have both been walking somewhere very dusty," the younger Liz said. "I found a lot of dust on my Max's bed, too… when I went back to his room to see if he was sleeping."**

**Liz of Antar looked at the dust on the sheet. Somehow, she had missed it. The sheet must have been covering it up. She had pulled the sheet down while looking at her younger double. Liz's heart stopped momentarily, and she forgot to breathe for several seconds.**

**"Are you all right? Liz?" The younger Liz asked, concerned."**

**The Antarian Liz shook her head. "No… I… I don't know. Do you know what happens to Antarians when they… when they…"**

**"Die?" the younger Liz offered cautiously, saying the word that her double didn't seem to want to say.**

**The Antarian Liz nodded. **

**"I've seen it happen… to a couple of skins," the younger Liz said. "I know it happens to Antarians… even Max… if he were to… you know…"**

**"I'm concerned," Liz of Antar said. It was a gross understatement. The younger Liz knew this intuitively, and she knew what was concerning her Antarian double. She turned pale, too…**

**"Omigod… if something happened to Max… I should have… Why didn't I think about that?"**

**"You haven't had much experience with that aspect of Antarian physiology," the Antarian Liz said. "You wouldn't know."**

**"But I should have known," the younger Liz insisted. "It's just that Max… my Max… had dust in his shoes when I took them off of him. It fell out of his shoes. I saw it. When I went back to his room again, I found more on the bed… and I just assumed it was more of the same dust… out of his shoes."**

**The Antarian Liz walked quickly to the end of the bed and looked for Max's shoes. They weren't there.**

**"That's odd. I know I put them right there… at the end of the bed. They're gone."**

**"Maybe Max put them on and left… with my Max," the younger Liz said hopefully.**

**Liz from Antar nodded slowly, clearly not convinced, then scooped up the dust with her hands and carefully put it into a resealable baggie. "Why didn't he tell me if he was going somewhere? He was so exhausted. No… I don't think… I don't know…" She turned to her younger double. "Let's go find Michael! He's got to know."**

**The younger Liz swallowed hard then followed her Antarian double, who left at almost a running pace without even closing the door of her room back. Arriving at Michael's room, Liz of Antar knocked loudly on the door. When there was no immediate answer, her younger double knocked, too. The door opened.**

**"Maria!" both Liz's said at once. Then the older Liz took over the conversation. "Maria, is Michael around?"**

**Maria nodded, smiling curiously.**

**"Can we see him?" the younger Liz asked. "It's important."**

**"He went down to the lower deck with his double. They got a mysterious call… someone said they would be needed there. I don't know what it's about. The caller wouldn't say."**

**"Who was the caller?" the younger Liz asked, becoming more alarmed by the moment.**

**Maria shrugged. "The caller wouldn't say who he was. Michael didn't recognize the voice. He thought it might have something to do with the strange man that we saw in the field yesterday. Michael didn't want to worry Max with it… He knew how tired he was. So he went by himself… well… with his younger double."**

**"Our Michael?" the younger Liz gasped, just realizing that her friend's boyfriend might be in danger, too.**

**"They're the only two Michaels here that I know of," Maria said, still curious about where this was all going. "And frankly, as much as I love him, Liz, it's confusing enough having two of him around. I mean… not that I'm complaining, mind you. I can think of a lot of worse things than having two Michaels around…" **

**For just a moment, Maria thought she saw something in the younger Liz's eyes. Was it jealousy? Couldn't be. Liz had Max… she wasn't interested in Michael. Then Maria smiled. Of course! Liz was being instinctively protective of her friend, Maria… the younger Maria… her double. She probably didn't even realize it. Maria from Antar found this amusing. She had to admit to herself that this doubles thing was confusing, but in the end, Maria had her Michael and her double had hers. Neither one really wanted to mix it up, but the idea of two Michaels was still enough to make either Maria smile.**

**"Come on," Maria said. "Let's go look for them. Michael said he was going to the lower deck… where the cargo is kept."**

**Liz nodded, then all three headed toward the central ascension chamber. As they arrived, they met the younger Maria, who appeared to have just come up in the chamber…**

**"We really have to stop meeting like this, Liz… all of us together! I feel like I'm in a house of mirrors and need to find my way out."**

**Liz smiled, too, but Maria could tell that it was a smile ridden with worry.**

**"What's wrong, Liz?"**

**"We're not sure anything's wrong," the younger Liz replied to her friend. "We're just concerned because of… of… circumstances that… concern us."**

**Maria grinned, shaking her head. "That was really clear, Liz! Okay, spill it! What's got you so upset?"**

**"Michael," the younger Liz replied. "Her Michael." She indicated the Maria from Antar. "He went down to the lower deck because of some mysterious call… and he may have taken the other Michael… your Michael… with him."**

**"And there's something else," Liz from Antar added to what her younger double had said… "Both of our Maxes have disappeared… and on their beds… we found… dust."**

**The younger Maria looked at both Lizzes and at her own double for a moment, then it registered with her what this might possibly mean. She turned pale for a moment, but then she shook her head.**

**"No. No, I don't think anything happened to them, Liz. My Michael got a call from someone saying he was needed in the cargo area. Your Michael showed up at Michael's door right after he hung up, and they went together. I was there with him when they left. Your Michael said he got a call, too. They asked me to let Jim Valenti… uh, my Dad, know, and I was just coming back from telling him about the calls. I think if something had happened to Max, Michael would have found out about it. Besides, wouldn't you have… you know… felt something, Liz?"**

**The younger Liz looked at her Antarian double, and they both nodded, realizing that Maria was probably right. Every other time that she could remember when Max had been in danger, Liz had felt it. It was more than a sixth sense. It was palpable. She felt it in every fiber of her body. If something drastic had happened to Max, she would have felt it… or… it had happened too fast for him to register any fear… any sense of danger… any reaction at all that she could pick up on. This was possible… but not likely. This was a good thing, really. But it did not put Liz's mind completely at ease. Things do happen… unexpectedly… fast.**

**The ascension chamber opened, and both Lizzes and both Marias stepped in. Liz from Antar passed her hand over one of the sensors, and the chamber started down. After several seconds, it arrived at the lower deck, and the door reopened. The four stepped out together and looked around.**

**"Where do you think they would have gone," the younger Maria asked. There were many storerooms and doors around the periphery of the cargo bay. Some of the rooms were quite large. One of them held a small submarine that Michael had named the "Maria Mia" during their first trip on the New Granolith, years before, when they had returned to earth to rescue Liz and Maria. That room could be sealed and flooded if they were underwater, and the "Maria Mia" could be piloted out of the New Granolith through a large underwater hatch. It was just one of Varec's amazing inventions and innovations. There were many of these on the New Granolith. It was truly an amazing machine.**

**Liz shook her head. "Maybe if we start over there with the first room and just check every room in turn…"**

**The younger Liz grimaced, realizing how much time this would take, but she nodded.**

**"Or… we could try that room down at the end," Maria said.**

**Everyone looked at the younger Maria. Maria shrugged. "Well, I saw the door close a moment ago. It was cracked before. Someone had to close it."**

**Without answering, all four headed toward the door Maria had seen close. As they drew nearer to the door, they saw something on the floor. Maria of Antar leaned over and scooped some of it up in her hands. It was dust. She looked at Liz of Antar. Both of them knew that this was not a good sign. The automated cleaning droids passed over every inch of the floors in the New Granolith at least every two hours. Dust literally didn't have time to settle in the New Granolith. This was a fairly sizeable amount of dust… and it was very recent.**

**Liz of Antar opened the door to the room, and the four friends stepped inside cautiously. It was a very large room, divided into numerous subsections or smaller rooms. It would be a dandy place to commit a murder that one didn't want to have discovered any time soon. Liz swallowed and looked at her younger double, and they both looked at the two Maria's. A certain fear was evident in all their faces, but they kept going. **

**Maria pointed to a small corridor that appeared to lead deeper into the mysterious depths of the room.**

**"I think I saw a shadow, Liz… just for a second. I just got a fleeting glimpse of something."**

**The other three nodded, and they all tiptoed silently together down the corridor, following the shadowy vision that Maria had seen and holding onto each other without realizing it. They came to a dead end. From there, the corridor went both left and right. The one to the right went to a door only thirty feet or so away, so they decided to check it out before going off down the other corridor to who knows where.**

**Opening the door cautiously, the four were confronted suddenly with bright lights and a long, drawn-out ratcheting sound. As they struggled to adjust their eyes to the sudden brightness of the lights, they heard other noises in the room around them… something small being thrown onto a table… and people… lots of them from the sound of it… and something that sounded like coins falling… lots of coins.**

**If Maria hadn't been absolutely positive it was TOTALLY AND UTTERLY IMPOSSIBLE, she would have sworn she was in a…**

**"RED! I WON!!!!!" **

**The sound assaulted Maria's ears like fingernails being raked down a blackboard, as the chinking sound of falling coins competed to be heard from another corner of the room over the surrounding cacophony.**

**"Welcome to the Mesaliko Sky Casino," a chipper voice said, as a man walked up to the four girls. He was not a Mesaliko and was obviously totally unaware of who any of the four girls were. "What's your game?" **

**Maria looked at the stranger, her mouth open but nothing coming out. She looked at Liz… then at their doubles. Their mouths were also hanging open with no sound at all coming out.**

**"If I find Michael in here," the younger Maria said, "I'll turn him into dust myself."**

**"Can we… can we… uh… look around and see what we want to do first," Liz from Antar asked innocently, flashing the dapper-looking man a smile, albeit one dripping with hidden venom.**

**The man shrugged. "Of course. As long as you got money… you can look all you want."**

**"Oh, I've got money," Liz said.**

**"Then look as much as you like," the man replied, flashing Liz a multi-megawatt smile that lacked nothing save the flash of a shiny gold tooth. Liz flayed her fingers out and then balled her hand up, denying herself the pleasure of walloping the man in the gut with an energy ball. Liz's energy balls were not deadly like Michael's or Max's, but they did get attention… the few times she had ever used them. And she was pretty sure that with the right motivation she could increase the power substantially.**

**Liz motioned to the others, and they followed, walking past a large roulette wheel and a poker table then past several walls lined with "one-arm bandits."**

**"I don't believe this," Maria said. "Tell me I'm dreaming."**

**"If you are, we all are," Liz said. "I see it, and I still don't believe it."**

**Suddenly, four strong hands reached out from between the walls and grabbed the four girls, dragging them quickly out of sight and covering their mouths so that they couldn't scream. The four struggled… but to no avail. The attackers had overpowered them and restrained them… They were unable to use their hands. Liz spun around and looked at her assailant…**

**"MAX?!" She almost got the word out, but Max had his hand over her mouth before she could say it.**

**"Shhhh… don't talk," Max said. "I'm sorry we had to get you out of there this way, but it couldn't be helped. You have to be quiet."**

**"What is going on here, Michael?" Maria asked in a low voice… showing amazing restraint under the circumstances.**

**Michael looked at Max, and Max looked at the four girls' faces… then decided to explain… as quickly as possible. But first, he took them into an unoccupied side room and closed the door.**

**"This isn't what it looks like."**

**Liz nodded. "Oh, that's classic! This isn't what it looks like! Is that all you have to say for yourselves?"**

**"Let me finish. This REALLY isn't what it looks like. We just found out about it today. From what we've been able to piece together so far, a few of the Mesalikos started this casino up and ran it for about a week with a small roulette wheel, a makeshift poker table, and two older slot machines. They had visitors… small-time gamblers… up here that we didn't know about, who used the Mesalikos' pass codes to get onboard. But River Dog found out and quietly put them out of business. He told them that they were disrespecting their benefactors… and their ancestors… doing this behind our backs. No one wanted to tell us about it after the fact, so they just closed it down. It was a relatively small operation anyway, and only half a dozen Mesalikos were involved. After River Dog closed the casino down, though, someone came along behind the Mesalikos and reopened it. They brought in a bigger, more professional wheel and more machines, and they glitzed up the place. And that someone… or those someones… do not appear to be Mesalikos. River Dog didn't even know the place was still open for business. When he found out, he called us and had us meet him down here. Then he told us the whole story… as much of it as he knows. We don't know who's running this little business venture now." **

**"The strange man we saw?" Liz asked.**

**"No… he probably came here to gamble," Max said. "He didn't seem to know exactly where he was going when he was in the field. He was looking all around. I really don't know for sure yet who he was, though. Michael and I are working on it."**

**"Max, I found dust on your bed," Liz said accusingly. "Then we found dust on the floor in front of the door leading to the casino. We thought you and Michael had been… had been…"**

**"Dusted?" Max asked with a wink. "I'm sorry, Liz. When you walk along a dusty desert road, you pick up a lot of dust in your shoes… and on your pants legs… I should have cleaned it up."**

**"Yes, you should have! Do you know what you put me through?"**

**"Put US through," Maria clarified, so that Michael would know, too.**

**Michael looked down sheepishly. "Well, the dust on the floor could have come off of my shoes… or it could have come off of anyone's shoes who was walking down the road near the reservation before coming onboard. It only means that someone was walking on a dusty road… or in the desert… before coming here… like Max and I were when we returned from healing the people at the hospital."**

**Liz took the baggie of dust out of the inside of her waistband and stared at it. "Desert dust, huh? I was going to have Varec analyze it." She pulled Max's belt out and dropped the baggie into his pants unceremoniously. Max winced then looked vaguely embarrassed, as he shook his leg…**

**"If that doesn't fall out, you know how I'm going to look trying to get it?"**

**Liz smiled. "Uh huh."**

**As fate would have it, at that moment the door opened, and everyone turned quickly to see who had just come in. It was River Dog. He closed the door back behind him quietly.**

**"How did you know where to find us," Michael asked.**

**River Dog grinned. "It is not difficult to follow you four… for a Mesaliko. You really should be more careful if you wish not to be found."**

**Max shook his leg again, but the baggie remained lodged. He smiled. "Have you found out anything new since we left you a little while ago, River Dog?"**

**River Dog nodded. "The individuals involved in this can be dangerous. That is the word from my people. My people are watching… quietly… secretly. They will let me know anything that they find out, and I will let you know."**

**"Maybe we should just put an end to this right now… right here," Michael suggested. "This is our ship. We have the advantage. We can take them. Even if they have guns, they can't take us unless they get really lucky… and they won't."**

**Max shook his head, absent-mindedly shaking his leg again at the same time. "I know we could take them, Michael. That's not the problem. We need to know who they are and what they want here… and how they got here."**

**"The Mesalikos gave them the code so they could come here to gamble," Michael said with certainty. "But I agree we need to find out who they are… and how many there are. We don't want to take anyone back to Antar by accident… especially if they're mob types."**

**"My people may not have given them the codes," River Dog said, seeming quite sure of this in spite of his choice of wording that left some room for doubt.**

**"Why do you say that," the younger Maria asked.**

**"They knew everyone that they brought on this ship. They had dealt with them before… they had gambled with them or had drinks with them many times in the past. These people were all harmless… just local gamblers and friends… nobody important. My people believe that the ones who are running this now got the codes from one of the ones who were here before. Two of the gamblers have been missing for almost a week, and my people believe that it is not a coincidence."**

**"But why?" Michael asked, more to himself than to anyone else. "Why would mob types want to set up a casino here of all places? It's illogical. They can't operate it openly or advertise or anything… and they must know we might discover them. They could make some money bringing in high rollers, but I don't think it would be enough to be worth the trouble in the end. It might seem like a lot of money to an average Joe, but to people like the mob… it would be chicken feed… not worth the effort… certainly not worth the risk."**

**Max nodded. "I have to agree with Michael. Whatever they expect to get, it can't be enough to make it worth the effort and the danger. There has to be something that we're missing here." Max shook his leg again and wriggled sidewise a bit to try to dislodge the baggie, but it stayed put. River Dog watched but prudently said nothing.**

**"We need to get out of here," Liz from Antar said. "…out of this room, I mean. We need to get back to the rest of the ship and figure out what we're going to do. We're in danger of being discovered every minute that we stay here in this room."**

**River Dog nodded. "She is right. You should not stay here too long. It is too dangerous."**

**Max nodded, too, realizing that they were both right. "Okay, let's go. You girls came in together. You should probably go back out together… without us. We'll keep an eye on you and follow you out… from a distance." **

**The girls agreed and quietly left the room, walking nonchalantly toward the door out of the "casino." Both Maxes, both Michaels, and River Dog followed a ways behind, trying to look like they weren't together and were just checking out the gaming options available to them. As they got to the door, they glanced behind them. No one was following. Michael closed the casino door behind them, and the five guys walked quickly together through the narrow corridors to the cargo bay, where they found the girls waiting for them. Max shook his leg again and did a little wriggle.**

**"I think… the Mesalikos have something that will cure that," River Dog said, giving in to the urge to be helpful.**

**                                           ----------**

**Back in their room again, Liz from Antar looked at Max and breathed in deeply. "I… I was so afraid, Max… that something had happened to you. I have to hug you and kiss you." Max smiled. Liz picked up a pillow from the bed and began to whack Max with it mercilessly.**

**"Ow! Ow!" Max dodged and covered his head as the pillow landed blow after blow. "What is that for, Liz? I know hugs and kisses. This isn't them!"**

**Liz landed a few more wallops on Max then tossed the pillow back onto the bed.**

**"Now I can kiss you." **

**Liz stepped up to Max and put her arms around him tightly, kissing him passionately, as tears rolled down her cheeks.**

**As night fell, Michael and Max of Antar and the younger Michael and Max from earth all lay wide-awake in their beds thinking… unable to sleep. It bothered Michael and Max of Antar, especially, that some individuals were on their ship and that they had no idea who they were or what they wanted there. Max had Jim Valenti… both Jims, in fact, keeping an eye on all the comings and goings in the cargo bay now, and River Dog and his people were watching, too. But it was a plague that had to be cured… a disease that had to be excised. Michael and Max would be unable to rest until the matter was taken care of. Liz and Maria from Antar had already dozed off, leaving their husbands awake and lost in their thoughts, and the younger Liz and Maria were asleep in their own beds in their own rooms.**

**Around one o'clock A.M., Roswell time, Michael of Antar finally dozed off. His younger double, alone in his own room, had already dozed off. All was quiet at last. Moments later, in the darkness, a figure let himself into the room, somehow opening Michael's door even though it had been locked electronically and required a hand scan to open it. The man walked silently over to Michael's bed. He placed one hand on a spot behind Michael's temple and another spot behind his ear and pressed for several seconds. Then he did the same to Maria, who was sleeping beside Michael. Both Michael and Maria lay still and silent, as the man left, closing the door back behind him. From there, he walked silently to the door of the younger Michael's room. A wave of his hand, and the door to the younger Michael's room opened for him. The man looked both ways briefly then went inside. Moments later, he stepped back out, silently closing the door behind him then making his way to the younger Maria's room before moving on to Alex and Isabel's room then to the rooms of their younger doubles. Emerging at last from the younger Isabel's room, the man looked both ways again and quickly disappeared down the hall.**

**tbc**


	40. Dreams39

The Night The Dreams Died 

**To Catch A Rat (You Need A Cat)**

**Chapter 39**

**XXXIX******

**Liz awoke in the morning to find Max sitting on the side of the bed, lost in his thoughts.**

**"Kyrin for your thoughts, Max."**

**Max smiled and leaned over to kiss Liz. "That's about all they're worth, I'm afraid, Liz. I've been thinking about this ever since last night, and I still don't have a clue who our intruders could be. I'm starting to think maybe Michael was right. We should just go in there and clean the place out, take the intruders into custody, and do whatever we need to do with them. You know, stage a sort of surprise raid."**

**Liz shrugged. "I guess you and Michael will have to decide that. I'll be glad to see them off the ship, though, whatever you do. I don't like them, Max. I don't even know who they are, but I don't like them. They're trespassing. Knowing that they're down there in the cargo bay… on our ship… is like… it's like having a burglar in the house. I feel violated."**

**Max nodded. "I'll talk to Michael… see if he still thinks that's the way to go. Maybe we can raid them and still find out who they're working for."**

**Max stood up and started to put his pants on, but he stopped with only one leg on. Liz noticed a funny look on his face, then Max shook his leg.**

**"Max, are you making fun of me? Hey, I'm sorry I put the baggie down your pants yesterday. It was just a spontaneous action, you know. There was nowhere else to get rid of it. And you seemed to deserve it… at the time."**

**Max shook his head then put his pants on the rest of the way. "I'm not holding anything against you, Liz… or making fun of you either. I just had a funny feeling for a moment there. It was weird."**

**"Yeah, you did look kind of freaked out for a moment there, Max. What were you thinking?"**

**Max shook his head. "It's crazy. You don't want to know."**

**Liz jumped up and placed herself in front of Max. "I want to know! I love you even if you are crazy, Max. Tell me."**

**"Gee, thanks, Liz… I think." Max pulled his pants back down and ran his hand over his legs slowly.**

**"They're still there, Max… the legs… and the hairs," Liz said smiling.**

**"Yeah…" Max nodded. "But feel this, Liz."**

**Liz smiled and ran her hand over Max's leg. Then she ran her hand back the other way. "If you were a girl, I'd say you really needed to shave those legs, Max. They feel rough."**

**"You notice it, too, huh?"**

**"Well… yeah, they do seem… I don't know… The hairs are just kind of… prickly… more than usual."**

**Max sighed and ran his hand over his leg again. "They feel like buffalo hairs… and they itch."**

**Max put his pants back on, stood up, zipped up the zipper and buckled his belt, then he put on his shirt, which he left hanging out.**

**"I'm going to talk to Michael. You want to come?"**

**Liz nodded, but before they could get to the door, there was a knock. **

**"Max! You in there?"**

**"It's Michael," Liz said.**

**"I'm here, Michael. Come on in," Max yelled back, scratching his leg and shaking it again.**

**Michael smiled as he walked in. "You still upset about that bag of desert dust, Max? I thought it was pretty funny myself."**

**"Yeah, I could tell," Max replied with a straight face. **

**"He's not thinking about that anymore," Liz said. "He's just got an itch."**

**Michael grinned. "Well, River Dog did say his people had a remedy for whatever you had, Max."**

**"Yeah, yeah… yuk it up, Michael. You're not the one with little trees growing out of your leg." Max rolled his pants leg up to show Michael.**

**"Looks like it always did to me," Michael grinned. "If it bothers you, though, Max, Liz could probably help you do a hot wax job."**

**Max scowled. "Michael, did you know you've got a sadistic streak?" **

**Liz ran her hand over Max's leg. "He's right, Max. In the light over here, your legs look normal… they even feel normal again now."**

**Max ran his hand over his leg then over his other leg, looked at Liz quizzically, then pulled his pants leg back down.**

**"Let's talk about something else besides my legs, okay? What'd you do to your face, Michael? You cut it shaving? I didn't think that was possible with the Antarian Lyyxtres Quad."**

**"It's nothing, Max. It wasn't the razor. I had a splinter in my chin. Maria pulled it out and it bled a little bit, so she stuck a band-aid on it. That's all."**

**"Maybe you need to move a little further away from your headboard when you're, uh, sleeping," Max said with a wry grin. "How'd you get a splinter in your chin anyway?"**

**"Damned if I know. I woke up and it was there. Looked like a frikkin' pinfeather… you know… the little stubbly stuff chickens get before their real feathers come in."**

**Max grinned. "A chicken, huh?"**

**"Don't even go there, Maxwell. At least I don't have hairy buffalo legs!" Michael smiled at the mental image that this brought to his mind. "I like it, Max! "Buffalo legs! That could be your new nickname."**

**"You're not brave enough, Michael."**

**Michael grinned. "Yeah, well… I still like it."**

**"Do you still think we ought to raid the casino down on level one," Max asked, changing the subject.**

**"I've been thinking about it. We can take them, Max. That part doesn't concern me at all. But after we take them what do we do with them… and will they talk to us and tell us who's really behind it all? Yeah… I'm game for it, Max. I say let's round 'em up now. We can worry about getting information after we put 'em out of business… permanently."**

**Max nodded. "Let's go do it then. We'll get the kids on the way down."**

**Michael looked at Max for a moment then nodded. "You mean our doubles." Max smiled.**

**                                       ----------**

**"There are only five of them in there at any one time," Jim Valenti said, pointing at the corridor that led to the large room where the casino was hidden. "They work in shifts." Jim had been watching the comings and goings in the casino all night together with his local double from this dimension.**

**"We could wait until they change shifts," Max said… "then take them down as they're leaving."**

**"That'll be four more hours," Jim said.**

**"Or… we could go in and take 'em down right now," Michael said. "That would be my choice anyway."**

**Max nodded. "You're the general, Michael. Let's do it."**

**Max, Michael, Jim, and their doubles walked into the corridor that led to the casino and headed for the door that was hidden in the back. They opened the door and walked in as though they belonged there, which, actually, they did.**

**"Welcome to the Mesaliko Sky Casino," the dapper man said, flashing his megawatt smile. "What's your game?"**

**"I'm afraid you're not going to like it," Max replied. "It's not one that favors the house."**

**The man looked puzzled. "Well… if we have it here, we want you to play it."**

**"Good," Michael said, nodding to Jim. Jim slapped his handcuffs on the man.**

**"What's this?" the man asked, seeming genuinely surprised.**

**"It's called a raid," Jim said. "We're closing this illegal operation down."**

**"Illegal?" The man's megawatt smile dimmed considerably. "I don't know anything about that. I was hired to greet guests and guide them to the games. That's all I know… That's all I do."**

**"Over there," Jim said to Michael. "We need to arrest the guy at the poker table and those three big types standing by the back wall."**

**"What are they?" Max asked.**

**"Muscle, I think," Jim replied.**

**"Okay, let's get the muscle first," Michael said. "…Make sure they don't get in the way later."**

**Jim handcuffed the greeter to a bar near the entrance. "We'll be back in a minute. Just sit down and make yourself comfortable." The dapper man sat down on the floor by the entrance and looked at his manacled wrist.**

**Max, Michael, Jim, and their local counterparts walked purposely toward the three big men standing by the wall in the back. As they approached them, one of the three men held out his hand to stop them.**

**"You can't go past here. The games are all in this room."**

**"We're not playing games," Michael said. "We had other ideas. You're under arrest… for trespassing on the private property of the Royal House and Government of Antar without its permission. You can save yourselves a lot of trouble if you come peacefully and cooperate with us."**

**The three men looked at each other. "I don't think so," one of them said, shoving Michael backwards suddenly. Michael was forced to take several steps backward to keep his footing, but he stayed on his feet. Before the big man knew what had hit him, Michael had brought his hand up, and a blast of energy threw the big man across the room. The man did not immediately get up from where he fell. When this happened, the other two men reached inside their coats. Michael knew what they were reaching for, but he was quicker than both of them. So were Max and their doubles. Four blasts of energy converged on the two guns, turning them instantly into hot melted slag. The two men tried once to pull the triggers, but the triggers were already melted solid, and the men were forced to drop the super-heated weapons. The local Jim Valenti grabbed one of the two men, spun him around, and cuffed him, and Jim from Antar, not having handcuffs on him, flipped the other man onto the floor on his belly and tied his hands behind him. The whole thing took less than a minute. The younger Michael had already rounded up the house poker player, who offered little resistance.**

**"Okay, now what we want to know is who do you work for," Michael said.**

**"We work for ourselves," one of the big men said defiantly.**

**"No you don't," Michael said confidently. "You're too stupid to be the ones running this. But I'm betting you know who does. You can talk to us now or you can go with the sheriff and talk to his men at the sheriff's office in Roswell. What's it gonna be?"**

**"I got nuthin' to say," the first big man said defiantly. "I got nuthin' to say to anyone."**

**"Suit yourself," Michael said, lifting the man up from the floor and shoving him toward the local Jim, who took him into custody along with the one who had been hit by Michael's power surge earlier and was still lying on the floor, too stunned to get up. "What were you guys guarding in this room back here?"**

**The first big man looked at his companion, and Michael thought that for a moment… just for a moment… he saw a flicker of panic in their eyes. The men recovered quickly, however.**

**"Nuthin'. We were just telling you that all the games are in here. That's all."**

**Michael looked at the door to the mysterious back room and smiled. "Then you won't have any objection if I check that room out." The men remained silent. Michael opened the door cautiously. The room inside was dark. Michael turned the light on and looked around. On the surface of it, everything looked okay. There was a large room and a desk… and some boxes… probably supplies needed for running the casino. Michael looked around again. It looked okay, but if he had been Spiderman, his "Spidey senses" would have been tingling all over the place. Michael walked cautiously across the floor, looking around as he moved further and further into the room. Nothing looked amiss. There was no one hiding behind the desk. There were no closets to hide in. Michael turned around and scratched his head then shrugged at Max and Jim, who were standing in the door watching. He started to walk back to the door, but on a sudden impulse, he stopped and opened the top of one of the large boxes. As he did, the box turned over, and a pudgy figure leapt out of it and darted toward the door… and straight into Jim Valenti's waiting arms.**

**It was hard to tell which one was more surprised…**

**"Jim!"**

**"Judge?"**

**For a moment, there was total silence, as both men gathered their wits. Jim was the first to speak.**

**"What in blazes are you doing here, Judge? I thought you were steering clear of trouble now… I thought you'd learned your lesson. You've still got a lot to answer for from before. You're not even off the hook for that and now we find you hiding in here… trespassing… running an illegal casino… and who knows what else!"**

**"I was just looking around, Jim. I just wanted to see what was up here. You startled me, and I… I hid. I was afraid you might be one of those mob-types out there. I didn't have anything to do with anything that might be illegal… whatever might be going on."**

**Jim groaned. "Judge, there's probably a total of maybe 121 IQ points between you and all three of those 'muscle-bags' out there, … and 120 of them are yours. Those guys out there couldn't pee straight if someone wasn't there to tell them how to aim. There are rocks on Antar with higher IQ's than those guys have! They couldn't run this place. I'm not buying your 'totally innocent' routine. What are you up to?"**

**"I told you… nothing, Jim. If you don't want to believe me, then fine. You can't prove anything."**

**Max motioned to Jim. "Jim, do you think Amy would be willing to 'interrogate' him for us?"**

**Jim smiled, and Judge Lewis turned pale then began to shake.**

**"I think she would," Jim said. "In fact, I think she might enjoy it." He pushed the Judge toward the door, but Judge Lewis dug his heels in.**

**"You can't do this, Jim. It's cruel and unusual. It's… sadistic."**

**"You're on a sovereign ship of the Royal House of Antar, Judge. You're not in your own back yard anymore. American laws won't protect you here. But then you don't seem to pay much attention to them anyway, do you?"**

**"This ship is on American soil, Jim."**

**"Actually, it's not," Max said. "It's about twelve hundred feet above it."**

**"And you wouldn't believe what the Antarians can do to you," Jim added. "Let's go, Judge."**

**"Wait! Wait… You're not going to torture me are you?"**

**"Not me," Jim said. "That's the royal torturer's job."**

**Judge Lewis closed his eyes and swallowed. "I'll talk. Just don't let her know I'm here."**

**"Her?" Jim asked.**

**"Your wife… Amy DeLuca… Valenti. Don't let her near me again."**

**"What about the royal torturer?"**

**Judge Lewis frowned but somehow managed to eke out a touch of sarcasm… "I thought they might be one and the same."**

**"They are," Jim said. Judge Lewis glanced at Jim for a moment, and the look in his eyes suggested that he did not discount that possibility at all.**

**"I'll tell you whatever you want to know, Jim. Just don't hurt me. I don't suppose you'd be willing to… let me go afterward… would you?"**

**Jim shook his head. Judge Lewis winced but it was the answer he had expected.**

**"Talk, Judge, or face Amy," Jim said, seeming to enjoy himself a bit more than he probably should.**

**Judge Lewis shook his head. "I'm not the one behind this, Jim. I'm just supposed to keep it running."**

**"For who?" Michael asked. "Who's behind it?"**

**"General Hawkins… and General Hawthorn."**

**Max and Michael both looked at each other in surprise.**

**"Why?" Max from Antar asked. "Why would they want to run a small-time casino… on our ship? They're still wanted by the army for desertion. This casino can't be making that much money… and the danger level for them has to be very high. What do they expect to get from it?"**

**"I don't know." Judge Lewis shook his head again. "They just said that they needed to be exonerated… in order to get back in the army's good graces. They said if I played along with them, they could restore my power once they were back in power themselves."**

**Michael nodded. "And how would this exonerate them, Judge?"**

**Judge Lewis shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know. I asked the same thing. Every time I ask something they don't want to answer, they just throw a little more cash down on my desk. I know when to shut up."**

**"I'll bet you do," Max said sarcastically.**

**Michael looked troubled. "Max… we both know that this casino can't possibly get them their reputation or their former positions back. And it won't make them rich either. It might allow them to live higher for a while, but that's not what they want. They want something that's more important to them. What is it?"**

**Max shook his head. He thought about it for several moments then closed his eyes in frustration. Then, suddenly, it dawned on him…**

**"This is all a diversion, Michael! This whole casino was merely a diversion from the start! It was reopened to distract us… keep us looking around down here while something else is happening somewhere else. We fell for it!"**

**Michael's face became pale then, moments later, flushed with anger.**

**"What do they want on our ship, Judge?"**

**"I… I don't know! Honest I don't! They don't tell me those things."**

**Michael glared at Judge Lewis, and the judge cringed and swallowed. "Hawkins might have said something about proving that you guys were dangerous… and doing something big that everyone would blame on you."**

**Michael grabbed Judge Lewis by the collar, almost lifting him off the floor. "What else?"**

**"I don't know! Well… Hawthorn might have said something about them becoming heroes for uncovering the real plot against earth… or something like that… and they might have mentioned looking for alien weapons on your ship… that they could use… so you would get the blame… and then they would be exonerated for using the tactics they used on the Mesaliko Reservation to try to find the aliens."**

**"I thought you said they never tell you anything."**

**"They don't. But that doesn't mean I don't… uh… hear things. I keep my ears open."**

**"Knowledge is power, huh, Judge?" Max shook his head. "Michael, where would they go on our ship to find something that could be dangerous to people on a massive scale?"**

**Michael shrugged. "We don't carry weapons. But some of our systems could be used as weapons… if someone knew how." Michael paused a moment and his eyes grew wide… "Varec's lab! Varec is always working on different things. Not weapons… but some of them could be used as weapons by a determined person with a little ingenuity. And to the general population, some of Varec's inventions might seem to be phenomenal weapons if they were used… on the people on earth."**

**"Would those two hurt Varec… to get what they wanted," Max asked.**

**Judge Lewis looked away. "What do you think?"**

**Max and Michael and their younger doubles raced from the room, leaving Judge Lewis and the other prisoners in Jim Valenti's hands. Jim rounded them all up, with help from his double from Antar, and locked them all in another room in the cargo bay together, one they could not escape from. Then Jim and his double headed quickly for Varec's lab to assist the others.**

**Max raced headlong into Varec's lab. It didn't occur to him, in his state of concern for Varec's safety, that rushing right in might be a little reckless, and Michael didn't have time to stop him. But it was done. Michael walked in behind Max, quickly but somewhat more cautiously. Varec was sitting at his worktable, and he looked up as Max and Michael came in followed closely by their doubles then by the two Jims.**

**Varec lifted a protective covering from over his eyes and smiled. "You must be looking for those two over there." He pointed to the other side of the lab. Everyone turned to look. General Hawthorn and General Hawkins were standing against the wall, terrified. Ten feet in front of them sat a very, very, very large cat. The cat turned its head calmly and looked at the ones who had just come in.**

**"Jung-Jo!" Jim of Antar shouted in sheer glee and amazement. **

**The cat actually seemed to smile at Jim through the two-foot-long tusks that protruded from the front of its mouth. It narrowed its eyes in a satisfied cat way and sounded like it was purring. Jim rushed to the Antarian pawgor, a distant relative of saber-tooth tigers that stood over five feet high at the shoulders and even higher to the top of the head, and threw his arms around the huge cat's neck. As the local Jim from earth watched in utter dumbfounded amazement, the pawgor purred and licked the Antarian Jim's face with a tongue that looked like it was large enough to wrap oneself up in… with a good amount left over.**

**Jim smiled. "How in Heaven's name did you get Jung-Jo here, Varec?" **

**"Varec can bring things to him from across the galaxy, Jim… remember?" Max reminded him.**

**"I'm getting pretty good, too," Varec said, without a trace of modesty. "I had to bring him across seven galaxies and countless dimensions to get him here this time. I've never done that before!"**

**Max looked at the terrified generals standing against the wall. "I guess he gave them a pretty good scare."**

**Varec smiled. "They walked in unannounced and tried to take over my lab with some primitive weapons that appear to use a kind of exploding powder to propel a little piece of metal. The weapons are not unlike the ones we confronted in the mountains on earth before."**

**Max looked at Varec's desk. He had taken the guns apart, piece by piece, carefully laying each piece out and numbering and labeling it. Even the bullets had been disassembled into casings, lead tips, and little piles of gunpowder.**

**"They overpowered me," Varec said ruefully. "But I concentrated, and a couple of minutes later, I had a fine ally." He motioned toward the pawgor. "The pawgor surprised them."**

**"I can imagine," Max said with a grin. **

**At that moment, Liz and Maria, their doubles from earth, and Amy, the younger Jim's wife, came running into the lab, having learned that something was going on there.**

**Liz and Maria of Antar saw Jung-Jo, and their mouths dropped open then turned into huge smiles. The faces of the younger Liz, Maria, and Amy, who had never seen a pawgor before, may have looked a bit different.**

**"What… what is that," Amy asked her new husband quietly. It was uncertain whether she was being discreetly quiet or whether that was all the voice she could muster at the moment. But to the credit of all the girls, not one of them turned and ran. If generals Hawkins and Hawthorn had had that option… well, it was too late now.**

**The younger Jim stepped over beside Amy protectively. "He called it a 'jungjo.' It looks like a saber-tooth tiger to me, though."**

**"Jung-Jo's his name," Jim of Antar said. He's a pawgor."**

**"He's got a name?" the local Jim asked, amazed.**

**"He's just a big puddy tat," Jim from Antar said, caressing the purring animal. "Come here and pet him. He won't hurt you."**

**The local Jim stepped forward cautiously, and Amy stepped forward with him, holding onto her husband's arm.**

**"You can pet him. He likes to be stroked," Jim of Antar said.**

**The local Jim reached out and ran his hand over the pawgor's head and down its back. The cat purred and looked contented. Unable to resist, Amy stroked the huge cat, too.**

**"He likes you," Jim of Antar said. "He's contented. See the look on his face?"**

**"Has he eaten yet… today," the younger Maria asked, watching from behind her Michael.**

**"Why don't you make friends with him," Jim said. Maria's eyes appeared to open wider than saucers, but she stepped forward and cautiously touched the large cat on top of the head… **

**"Nice, n-n-nice kitty. I'm your friend. Don't eat me, okay?"**

**The younger Michael smiled then stroked the huge cat, too, followed by Max and Liz. Isabel, who had come in with Alex moments after the others, reached out and stroked the cat then took Alex's hand and put it on the cat's head with hers. Their doubles, Isabel and Alex of Antar, watched with smiles on their faces as the younger local gang became acquainted with the amazing pawgor that they all had come to know so well.**

**Apparently finding a bit of ill-advised courage after seeing everyone else touching the pawgor without any harm coming to them, General Hawthorn reached one hand out cautiously toward the huge cat. The pawgor instantly turned its head toward the general with its huge mouth wide open and let out a deafening bellow that could only be described as part ear-splitting roar, part terrifying shriek. The sound seemed to echo throughout the ship for the longest time before fading. When the cat screamed, the general had immediately jerked his hand back and turned ghostly white. Beside him, Hawkins, who was almost colorless, looked at the floor and moved his right foot carefully away from his companion's feet. "Great," he said in a shaky voice. "Judge Lewis, and now you."**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Though the casino is gone and generals Hawkins and Hawthorn, along with Judge Lewis, are turned over to the authorities, finally and permanently ending their quests for power… and their freedom… there is one other uninvited "guest" onboard the New Granolith. But this one is different… very different… and not so easy to catch. In fact, they don't even know he's there. And other problems face the "alien" gang and their friends, too. Will earth be a place where the younger doubles can go back to living in peace with their families… or has that possibility ended forever? And can they live with the consequences of being who they are and everyone knowing who they are? Some decisions will have to be made. **


	41. Dreams40

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Mind Games**

**Chapter 40**

**XL******

**"The casino's gone," Michael said with a satisfied look, loading the last one-arm bandit onto a rolling dolly for removal. "Just my luck! We find a real casino right here on our own ship and we have to close it down."**

**Max smiled. "Well, if you had played, you would have put them out of business anyway, Michael. They weren't expecting 'aliens' with, uh, special abilities to be playing. They were bringing in their own business. Besides, the whole thing was all basically a diversion… well mostly a diversion. They were raking in some money on the side there pretty good while we were being diverted apparently."**

**"I know, Max. But it could have been fun." Michael pulled the lever on the machine in front of him then passed his hand over it. The electronic bar flickered, as little pictures of fruit flashed by for several moments, eventually stopping on a cherry… another cherry… and another cherry. But there was no payout.**

**"Story of my life, Maximilian. Story of my life."**

**Max grinned.**

**"I don't know, Michael. We could bring one or two of these back in and set them up in your room. You could play them whenever you want then… for fun.**

**Michael pulled the lever again. Cherry… cherry… cherry.**

**"Naw. What's the fun in being able to make little cherries pop up… if there's no payout, Maxwell? They're just cherries. And they're not even real… they're just electronic pictures. Get rid of it."**

**Max nodded and pulled the dolly out into the cargo bay. "I told River Dog his people could have all this. They can start their own casino if they really want one… down there somewhere. They're getting a good deal. They started out with two one-arm bandits, a makeshift card table, and a substandard, half-size roulette wheel, and they're getting fourteen bandits, a professional card table, and a regulation-size roulette wheel. Little Prairie Rat was tickled to death. He's the one who started the original casino on the ship… when it was really Mesalikos running it."**

**"Why do they call a 300-pound Indian 'Little Prairie Rat,' Max?**

**Max shook his head. "Maybe when he was a baby he was little… or maybe his mother saw a little prairie rat right after he was born. Lots of times, Indian names are given that way. Gray Hawk's mother saw a gray hawk circling right after he was born. Tradition said that the ancestors wished him to be named Gray Hawk. Same with River Dog… and Little White Feather."**

**"Crazy Fox and Wounded Bear," Michael added. That must explain why Shaka-no-gala refuses to go by anything but his Mesaliko name and won't tell anybody what it means. The rumor is that a hummingbird passed over and left a… uh… little gift the first time they took him outside to find out what his name would be."**

**"Pooping Hummingbird?" Max asked, raising his eyebrows.**

**Michael shrugged. "Maybe. That would explain his refusal to tell anybody his name except in Mesaliko."**

**Max laughed. **

**"Are you going down to the reservation today, Max?"**

**Max winced and shook his head. "I think I'll stay on the ship."**

**"They won't give you any peace will they… the people wanting your help, I mean…"**

**"No. They're camped out down there beneath the ship, Michael… thousands of them. Maybe tens of thousands. Everybody who's got anything from a broken arm to some fatal disease to… a headache."**

**"Headache? You're kidding, right?"**

**"Nope! Yesterday three people wanted me to cure headaches. Two of them had hangovers."**

**"Aw for the… What did you do?"**

**"Told 'em there were other people who needed my help who were more urgently ill."**

**"Good! You didn't waste time on them then."**

**Max looked down at the floor for a moment but didn't answer. Michael nodded understandingly.**

**"You can't say no when they plead and beg, can you, Maxwell? You're setting yourself up for an early death, Maxwell! Every time you heal one of them it takes something out of you."**

**"I recuperate."**

**"Sure, Max, but how many times? How often? You're burning the proverbial candle at both ends here. Exercise and hard work do a person good, but a person can be worked to death, too, and that's what's going to happen to you here, Maxwell! They're going to work you to death! They don't give you time to recuperate… not enough time."**

**"We'll be going back to Antar soon, Michael. I won't need to worry about that anymore then."**

**Michael nodded, looking Max in the eyes. He saw deep concern etched in Max's face.**

**"But you're worried about your double… am I right, Max? And you should be. If he's like you… and we both know he is… they'll use him up before he's thirty. Hell, he won't make it to twenty-five! They won't give him a second's rest down there, and you know it. You have to toughen up, Maxwell, so you can help him toughen up. He's got to learn to say no… and then put it out of his mind… not worry about it… let it go."**

**"That's easy for you to say, Michael. You don't have our gift. If you did, you'd understand. You don't have to feel guilty about it, because you can't do anything about it anyway. But if you could… and didn't… you don't know how you'd feel, Mikey."**

**"Under the circumstances, Maxwell, I'll let you get away with calling me that this time. But don't push your luck."**

**Max smiled. He knew that Michael hated to be called Mikey, but Michael never hesitated to call him Maxwell, when he was being stern with him or lecturing him, and Maximilian, when he wanted to be derisive or condescending. In that motel on 285 South, Michael had used both of these names on Max… almost in the same sentence. Michael never intended any kind of injury by it, of course. And Maxwell was Max's real name… the name given to him by the Evanses, his adoptive parents. But Michael only called Max by these names in certain specific circumstances… like a mother calling her child by the child's first, middle, and last name. There was a not-so-subtle meaning attached, and Max got it.**

**"I'll talk to my double."**

**"Do that, Max. I'm going to talk to my double, too. He's going to have his hands full keeping your double in line. I may need to give him some pointers."**

**"Gee, thanks, Michael." **

**Even though no special names were attached to Max's simple, short sentence, the sarcasm was there… and Michael got it. But Michael knew that he had a job to do; and protecting Max, even if it was sometimes from himself, was a full-time job.**

**                                           ----------**

**In his own room on the New Granolith, Rahn was sleeping. It was the middle of the day, but he had been awake most of the night and this was the first chance he had had to catch even a short nap. Max and Michael of Antar were still down in the cargo bay. Jim Valenti and his double were in Roswell processing Judge Lewis and turning General Hawkins and General Hawthorn over to the army authorities, who were quite delighted to have them back… in their brig this time… awaiting court-martials. Kyle was at Gray Hawk's house with Angie Lee, as he had been almost every waking hour recently, and Amy, Alex, Isabel, Liz, Maria, and the others were mostly competing over who would get to walk Jung-Jo next. They had walked him through the arbors, through the gardens, and through most of the ship. Jung-Jo was thoroughly enjoying all the attention he was getting… and the petting; and the girls, especially, just couldn't be around him enough.**

**In his bed, Rahn breathed a deep breath then sort of sighed. He was enjoying a dream about his adoptive home planet, Antar, specifically about one area of Antar, an ancient valley where the shape-shifters were rumored to have originated before they had spread out all over the galaxy and evolved different characteristics and races.**

**As Rahn slept, a hand passed silently over the sensor beside his door, and the door opened slowly. A strange man stepped into the room then walked quickly but silently to Rahn's bedside. He pressed one finger to a point behind Rahn's temple and another to a point behind his ear for several seconds, then he smiled slightly. "I've got you!"**

**The words never fully left his mouth. Rahn had been aware of the mysterious man's presence in his room even as he slept. The human form lying on the bed changed suddenly into a large snake and wrapped itself around the intruder numerous times. The intruder reacted quickly, turning into a snake, too, and wrapping itself around the other snake. For several minutes they remained this way, intertwined, each struggling for dominance but neither able to achieve it. Then Rahn changed again, this time into a large Grizzly bear. The bear bit down hard on the snake, eliciting a reaction of pain. The mysterious man changed from a snake into a mouse to escape the bear's grip then changed into something entirely different… a Dragon… from the planet Drago. Rahn immediately changed into a Dragon, too. They were evenly matched.**

**"We can go on like this all day," the strange man said to Rahn. **

**"That is possible," Rahn admitted.**

**"Then let's call a truce," the mysterious man said.**

**Rahn nodded and changed back into human form at the same time as the mysterious man did.**

**"What are you doing here," Rahn asked. "You betrayed our planet… our people."**

**"I saved your life, Rahn. You are ungrateful."**

**"I don't remember you ever saving my life, J'Shalo."**

**"Well, I did. Who do you think sent the message into space… the message that brought this ship here in time to rescue you… just as the humans shot your ship down?"**

**"You did that?"**

**"Perhaps I am not as evil as you think, Rahn."**

**"Even the evil will help others if there is something to be gained for themselves, J'Shalo. I am not the fool you take me to be."**

**"Perhaps not, Rahn… but I did save you. And you are right. I do need your help."**

**"Of course you do. Did you do that to anyone else on this ship, J'Shalo?"**

**"Do what?"**

**"The touch… you know… the mind touch… like you did to me… to see if they were me."**

**"I may have… to one or two. What do you care?"**

**"One or two? Who?"**

**"What does it matter?"**

**"It matters!"**

**"They are only humans, Rahn… not like us. They are not our concern."**

**"They are my concern, J'Shalo. Who did you use the mind touch on?"**

**"Some males… and some females… maybe ten all together… before you."**

**"Why, J'Shalo? Did you think that even the females might be me?"**

**"It was possible. You can be anyone… any shape… any form. It was the only way to find you, Rahn.**

**"They must be prepared J'Shalo. If you did not prepare their minds… the touch could be fatal."**

**J'Shalo shrugged. "Then there will not be a problem, will there, Rahn? We will not have to kill them later. It is always so messy killing humans. They don't turn into dust like we do, you know."**

**"Some of the ones on this ship are Antarians, J'Shalo… but you knew that, didn't you… and some are hybrids… of human and Antarian. They are not humans either… exactly."**

**"Yes, well, it is irrelevant, really, Rahn. Whatever they are, it is better if they die now… that way we will not have to kill them ourselves later… the messy way… and they will not be in our way."**

**"I would not kill them, J'Shalo. And I will not."**

**"You will do what you must do, Rahn. If they do not die from the touch, the secret will be revealed to them. That is against our laws."**

**"NOW you care about our laws, J'Shalo?"**

**"I care, Rahn, when it matters."**

**"When you agree with the laws you mean."**

**J'Shalo shrugged. "It is the same thing."**

**"No, J'Shalo. It is not the same thing. What do you need from me?"**

**"A way to get home, Rahn. It is that simple."**

**"You had your own ship, J'Shalo. What happened to it?"**

**J'Shalo scowled. "That ungrateful little bitch stole it." **

**Realizing that Rahn didn't know what he was talking about, J'Shalo winced and stomped around the room a bit in an obvious display of emotional distress, but then, reluctantly, he began to explain…**

**"I saved her from the crashed ship… I raised her myself… and she repaid me by putting a mind warp on me… taking my ship… and leaving me here on this planet… with these inferior beings!"**

**"You, J'Shalo?" Rahn asked, with a vague smile starting to play over his lips. "You allowed a… hybrid… to mind warp you?"**

**"I did not ALLOW anything, Rahn. She tricked me. It could have happened to any of us. She is… deceitful."**

**"Ah! Not at all like you, huh, J'Shalo."**

**Be ware, Rahn! Even though you are one of my own people, I will not hesitate to kill you if you deride me."**

**"I wouldn't dream of it, J'Shalo."**

**"You and I will take this ship back to Antar, Rahn… together… after the ones I touched have died and we have killed the others. There is no argument from you that will change this edict. It is decided. You will agree. You have no choice; I'm not giving you one."**

**"And our king, J'Shalo? Are you giving him no choice either? Were you not sworn to protect him, just as I was?"**

**"Our king is dead, Rahn. Accept it. We failed! The only one I was able to save was that wretched girl… Ava's hybrid… the one who took my ship. An old Indian took another pod… another one of our Avas. The army took all the other pods. They are no more, Rahn. We are alone here! Accept it!"**

**"You are a fool, J'Shalo."**

**J'Shalo bristled.**

**Rahn shook his head. "You stupid… ignorant… traitorous… ass!"**

**"I could kill you where you stand, Rahn! I don't know why I haven't."**

**"Because you need me, J'Shalo. You cannot pilot this ship alone. You cannot pilot it at all. It will not respond to you. You're hoping that it will to me."**

**"That, Rahn, is the only thing keeping your life hanging by the thread that it is still hanging by. I am warning you not to push me any further."**

**"J'Shalo, our king is on this ship. In fact… it is a bit complicated, but there are actually two of him on this ship."**

**J'Shalo seemed momentarily stunned. "Two of our Zan pods survived? How is it that I did not know this?"**

**"You weren't trying to find out, J'Shalo. That is my guess."**

**"I did try to find out! Well… I would have tried… if I had known that the army didn't have them all."**

**"You didn't try to find out, J'Shalo. And you never tried to rescue them."**

**"And where were you, Rahn?"**

**"The army captured me… while I was trying to protect the pods. I was a prisoner for forty years… until I was rescued by Zan… and Rath."**

**Hearing Rath's name invoked for the first time in so many years, J'Shalo looked as though he had just been shot, which all things considered, might have been his fate in many cultures on many planets.**

**"Where are they now, Rahn?"**

**"Somewhere… on the ship. Would you kill them all now, J'Shalo?"**

**J'Shalo was quiet for several long minutes before answering.**

**"They must die, Rahn. I am not the same person I was forty years ago. Much has changed. I would not be welcome back on our planet if Zan or Rath went back and told them of my… inattention… to their cause."**

**"It was your cause, too, J'Shalo… our cause."**

**"Not any more, Rahn. They are not my people. I am a shapeshifter. You are a shapeshifter. They are… human-Antarian hybrids… not even shapeshifter. No, Rahn, they must die… all of them."**

**"And allow Kivar to rule Antar forever, J'Shalo? We counted on Zan and Rath to return and take our planet back for us one day. You cannot tell me that you now willingly accept Kivar as our king… Kivar, the tyrant… Kivar, the ruthless, murdering despot!"**

**J'Shalo laughed. "Rahn, you are more out of touch than I am! Kivar is dead. There is no king on Antar now. There hasn't been for more than five years! Kivar was killed by an alien from a distant planet who took offense at being, uh… asked to serve the new monarchy on Antar…"**

**Rahn stood in stunned silence. "A slave, you mean. Who… who is in charge then?"**

**"No one. It is anarchy, Rahn. There are factions spread all over Antar. None of them can manage enough support to overthrow all the others, so they remain fragmented. The planet is ripe to be taken over."**

**Rahn's mouth dropped open. "You mean… by you."**

**J'Shalo nodded. "I did my time under the previous monarchy, Rahn. I was faithful for most of my life. I fought for the monarchy. I defended it. I put my life on the line for it. What did it get me? Stuck on this forsaken rock seven galaxies from my home… with an inferior species! The royal four were killed by Kivar and his men once. They had to be regrown here on this planet. Now they are vulnerable… and I am not. It is the law of nature, Rahn. Let it be as it is intended."**

**"I will not allow it, J'Shalo. I cannot."**

**"You cannot stop it, Rahn."**

**"I will tell Zan and Rath of your deception. I will prepare their minds myself so that the touch you used on them will not be fatal. You will be banished."**

**"I cannot allow that, Rahn."**

**"You cannot stop me, J'Shalo. I am, as you may have noticed, as powerful as you."**

**"Rahn, do not try me! I will take your powers away!"**

**Rahn shook his head and started toward the door. "There is nothing… almost… that can take a shapeshifter's powers away, J'Shalo. You know that."**

**"There is one thing."**

**"Yes. A Xiangar Viper," Rahn conceded. He turned back from the door to face J'Shalo, and something leapt at him, sinking its teeth deep into his arm. Rahn struggled to remove the viper, but he felt weak. Soon, the room began to spin, then his legs buckled. Rahn fell to the floor. He tried to change his form, but nothing worked. He couldn't even stand up.**

**"I am sorry, Rahn," J'Shalo said, changing back into human form again. "Well, maybe I'm not… but it will make piloting this ship more difficult for me. It will take three days for you to die. If you change your mind and swear your allegiance to me before then, I may - understand, I said, MAY - remove the poison that is killing you. You have three days to think about it."**

**J'Shalo stepped out of Rahn's room and closed the door behind him, then he smiled. King J'Shalo… I like the sound of it! Or should I call myself King Nasedo?" No. I like J'Shalo better. It is my real name. I will be J'Shalo again… J'Shalo, King of Antar."**

**tbc**


	42. Dreams41

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Danger Within**

**Chapter 41**

**XLI******

**Max stopped in front of Rahn's room and stared at the door for a moment. "Have you see Rahn today, Liz?"**

**Liz thought for a moment then shook her head. "Come to think of it, I don't think I saw him yesterday either. That's odd, Max. He usually socializes with everyone. Maybe we ought to check on him. You think he's in his room?"**

**"One way to find out." Max knocked on Rahn's door. "Of course, he could be in town… or somewhere else."**

**"But it's not like him to not let anyone know," Liz said.**

**"Yeah, I know… You're right," Max agreed, as he knocked again. There was no reply.**

**"Doesn't look like he's here. He must have gone down to town."**

**Liz nodded, but deep inside, she had a bad feeling that she couldn't quite put a finger on.**

**"Do you think we should go look for him, Max?"**

**Max appeared to think about it then he shook his head wearily. "No."**

**"You concerned about all the people down there who want you to heal them?"**

**Max shook his head again. "No. I could disguise myself. I'm just not feeling well today. I don't know what it is. I never got sick before… but the last couple of days… I'd swear I had the flu or something. Even my bones ache."**

**"Maybe all the people you've healed have taken too much out of you, Max. You need to rest. Michael told you you're going to burn yourself out. You're trying to give too much of yourself. There's just not enough of you to go around. You can't heal everybody who needs you."**

**"Yeah. That could be it, Liz." **

**Max didn't really believe this, but he had no other explanation for the weakness he felt, and healing did take a lot out of him. For some reason, he just didn't seem to be recuperating the way he should anymore. And his body seemed to have gone haywire. One moment, he would look perfectly normal, then he would go to comb his hair and it would feel like he was trying to comb porcupine quills down. Then there were the hairs on his legs. One moment they would be bristly. "Buffalo legs," was the description Max had used. But the next moment they would unexplainably seem normal again. **

**Liz, too, had experienced some strange and abnormal physiological events, though she had tried to downplay them, pretending that they were nothing or that they had been merely products of an overactive imagination. But Max didn't think they were nothing… or her imagination. He had helped Liz rub an anti-fungal cream into the skin on her legs, feet, and back, because she thought she had caught some kind of rash. But after rubbing the cream into her skin, Max had been left with something in his hands that looked like fish scales. The problem was that, within an hour, Liz's feet and legs… and her back… were normal again, and she had written the whole thing off, declaring that the cream had worked wonders. Max didn't think it was the cream, but with the problem gone, he could scarcely argue the point.**

**Max stopped at his younger double's door and knocked on it.**

**"Come in."**

**The voice was that of his double, but it sounded weak… even desperate almost. It shocked Max. Max opened the door, and he and Liz went in. The younger Max was in bed.**

**"A little early for bed isn't it, Mini Me?"**

**The younger Max hated this moniker, and Max knew it, but he didn't show any reaction. That in itself spoke volumes.**

**"I needed some rest," the younger Max said. "Healing so many people has taken a lot out of me. I haven't had time to take care of myself."**

**"You think that's all it is," Max asked his younger self.**

**The younger Max shrugged wearily. "What else could it be? I don't get sick. You know that. You don't either."**

**"Yeah. I don't know what else it could be, either," Max from Antar admitted. "Have you had any odd… uh… things happen to you in the last day or two?"**

**"Odd… like how odd?"**

**Max looked flustered. "I don't know… like… like… the hair on your legs going all bristly or the hair on your head getting hard and bristly… then being normal a few minutes later…"**

**The younger Max looked shocked.**

**"Never mind," Max from Antar said quickly. "It was just a stupid question. I didn't mean that anything was happening… like that… you know… I just wondered. I don't know why."**

**The younger Max pulled the cover off of himself and rolled over with some difficulty. His back was pocked with deep leathery pocks, and along the length of his spine there were small ridges, like the beginnings of the fins along the backs of some dinosaurs. But these kept moving around as Max looked at them. They came and went, appearing first at one point then at another point along the spine.**

**"I can't control my own body," the younger Max said weakly. "It's draining all my strength. I don't know how long I can… go on."**

**Max from Antar looked at his younger double aghast. His mouth opened several times, but no words came out. Finally, he shook himself and managed a reply.**

**"We'll get to the bottom of this. Just hang on. Don't give up, whatever you do. I'm going to send Varec up here to look at you… to see if there's anything… conventional that can be done. Then I'm going to find Rahn. Somehow I think this is something that he can explain."**

**"Max!" the younger Max called out, as his Antarian double turned to leave the room.**

**Max turned back around. "Yes?"**

**"Have you seen Liz… I mean… my Liz? Is she… alright? It doesn't matter about me. Just make sure that Liz is alright. Please?"**

**Max nodded.**

**"I saw her this morning," Liz from Antar said to Max's younger double. "She seemed fine, Max. I think she's okay. We'll check on her, though. You hang on. I already paged Varec… He's on the way."**

**Even as Liz spoke, Varec appeared. Max let him in and quickly tried to explain what was going on, but it was difficult, since Max had little clue himself what was going on. He could only describe the symptoms to Varec.**

**"Check him out Varec, please. Take him to the healing ward if you need to. I'm going to look for Rahn."**

**Max rushed out of his double's room with Liz by the hand. At Rahn's door, they stopped again.**

**"Max," Liz said, "I think we'd better check Rahn's room." She didn't say why; she didn't need to. Max passed his hand over the sensor, and the door opened. The doors to all the rooms were preset to recognize certain people. Max was one. Liz, Michael, Maria, and Jim Valenti, as well as Alex, Isabel, and Kyle would be recognized, too. In fact, everyone on the original trip from Antar who belonged on the ship had access to all the rooms, though they did not generally let themselves into someone else's room without knocking or asking for permission first. This was a special case, however. Rahn either was not there or… well, Max hated to think of the possible alternatives. He looked quickly around the room and in the bathroom and closets. Liz looked, too. It was Liz who first spotted him… on the floor behind his bed. Liz rushed to Rahn and lifted his head gently…**

**"Rahn, can you hear me? Rahn! Answer me, Rahn. Please be okay!"**

**Max rushed to Liz's side. "Is he… Is he…?"**

**"I don't know," Liz said, shaking her head. "He's breathing, but I don't think he's conscious."**

**At that moment, Rahn opened his mouth, then he opened his eyes and looked at Liz and at Max. It appeared as though he might close his eyes back at any moment… for the last time. It frightened Liz to think that they could lose Rahn. He had become such a good friend.**

**"Rahn, can we do anything for you?" Liz asked. "Can you tell us what's wrong with you? Is there anything that we can do?"**

**Rahn breathed out a long ragged breath and closed his eyes, but then he opened them again and seemed to find a reserve of strength from somewhere within himself. It wasn't much, and Liz knew that it wouldn't last long.**

**"You are… in danger…" Rahn managed to say in a whispered voice. "I must… help you."**

**"You need to help yourself first," Liz said. "You don't have enough strength to help anyone else."**

**"There is… nothing… I can do… for myself." Rahn struggled with the words. "Xiangar viper… bit me… I have… no powers… to shapeshift… I… will die… before today… is over. Only… J'Shalo… can help… and he will not."**

**"J'Shalo?" Max and Liz repeated as one, looking at each other with a puzzled look. "Who is J'Shalo," Max asked.**

**"Nasedo," Rahn managed to say weakly. "You may know… as Nasedo."**

**Both Max and Liz reacted as though they had been asked to hold a bare power line and someone had suddenly switched on the electricity. The younger Max and Liz would have had no idea who Nasedo was, because Nasedo had never shown up in Roswell in their dimension… until now. But Max and Liz of Antar knew very well who Nasedo was.**

**"Nasedo is on this ship… on my ship?!" Max asked, in a voice somewhere between incredulity and shock.**

**"He… J'Shalo… Nasedo… touched your minds… in your sleep. He… changed you. You must get help… or you… will die… all of you."**

**"What can we do," Liz asked, sitting beside Rahn on the floor and cradling Rahn's head in her arms.**

**"If I… had not been… bitten by… viper… I could help… prepare… your minds… to accept the touch… but I have… no power now… no power to help with."**

**Liz shook her head, desperate to help Rahn, who was fading fast even as they spoke.**

**"Rahn, what can be done for YOU? We need to help YOU!"**

**"No one… can help. J'Shalo will not. Only… another… shapeshifter."**

**"Liz!" both Max and Liz said at the same time. "You changed Liz," Liz from Antar said, referring to her younger double. "You changed her mind to let her alter her spine so that she could walk again. Could she help you?"**

**Rahn was silent for several moments. Liz wasn't sure if he was thinking about it or if they were losing him.**

**"Rahn… Rahn! Don't die on us! We need you! Stay with us, Rahn!"**

**Rahn coughed weakly. "I… I don't… know. It may… be… possible. But she… is not… trained… not… experienced. She… could not… be expected… to know how… to help."**

**Max was already paging the younger Liz on the ship's communication web, and he put an EXTREMELY URGENT tag on the message, asking her to report immediately to Rahn's quarters. Liz was either not far away or she flew there, because almost before Max had put down the paging device, Liz was running down the hall towards them. She looked around, her eyes asking the question.**

**"Over here," Liz from Antar said, calling to her younger double. The younger Liz rushed to Rahn's side. **

**"What happened? What's wrong with him?"**

**"A shapeshifter named Nasedo turned himself into some kind of viper that is deadly to shapeshifters and bit Rahn. Rahn thinks another shapeshifter could help him… to get rid of the poison."**

**"How," Liz asked. "Just tell me how."**

**"It is… not… something… I… can explain… how to do," Rahn said. "You will… have to… feel the answer… in your mind… and… in your… heart. You need to put… one finger here…" Rahn indicated a point near his temple. "Another… here…" He indicated behind his right ear. "Then you… would need… to feel… my thoughts… my mind. Open… the door that… holds… the poison. Release… the poison. If you can… release it… from the… box… Nasedo has put… around it… we may… be able… to destroy the… poison… together."**

**Liz put one finger on the spot Rahn had indicated near his temple and the other finger behind his ear as he had shown her.**

**"I don't know what I'm doing," Liz said frantically, tears starting to roll from her eyes. "I don't know what to do to help… to make it work."**

**"Just… concentrate," Rahn said weakly. "Concentrate on… the box. Find it… with your mind… open it."**

**Liz shook her head. "I'm trying… I can't see anything, Rahn." Tears ran freely down Liz's cheeks, and she began to shake.**

**"It's okay," Rahn said, touching her arm gently. "You could… not be expected… to do… this. Do not… feel bad."**

**Liz closed her eyes and gritted her teeth with a newfound determination, concentrating with all her mind and all her heart… then… **

**"I found it!" **

**It was right there, in Rahn's mind, a sort of blockade composed of pure thought waves that held back some kind of neuronic poison… kept it right where it would do the most harm… and where Rahn could not reach it. With her own mind, Liz nudged at the thought waves holding back the poison. Then she nudged again. The "box" distorted briefly but went back to its original shape.**

**"He's dying," Liz from Antar said, as Rahn began to tremble in her arms.**

**In desperation, the younger Liz closed her eyes, and her mind released a blast that she had not known she was capable of directly into the thought wave blockade in Rahn's mind. Apparently, the power of her feelings were sufficient… in fact, they were more than sufficient. The blockade, composed of remnant thought waves placed there by Nasedo, burst apart, blasted into nothingness by the power projected from Liz's mind. She then concentrated on the poison itself. She had no idea how to destroy it or how to eliminate it from Rahn's brain, but she was not about to let that stop her now… not now! **

**Liz concentrated and projected her own mind waves at the poison. The poison reacted almost as though it were alive and protecting itself… as though it were a solid entity living in Rahn's brain. With the sheer power of her mind… and its newfound abilities… Liz reached into Rahn's mind and grabbed the poisonous entity, strangling it and wrenching it from its chosen spot in Rahn's brain. The moment it lost its hold, Rahn's brain seemed to come back to life… as though a switch had been turned on and the lights had just come back on inside a dark room. Liz felt – and, in a way, she actually saw- Rahn grab the poisonous entity along with her, and together, they ripped it apart. Rendered inert and harmless, the poison began to vaporize then simply disappeared.**

**To Max and Liz of Antar, watching from the side as she held Rahn's head in her arms, the light in Rahn's eyes, which had been almost extinguished only moments before, seemed to come back on suddenly. Liz gasped and knew in her heart that her younger double had succeeded.**

**The younger Liz knew it, too. She opened her eyes and looked at Rahn then at her double and Max. Then she smiled and wiped the tears off her cheeks.**

**"I think I did it."**

**Liz from Antar grabbed her double and hugged her then began to cry, letting out the feelings she had been holding back, as the two girls held each other for several long moments. Though clearly affected, too, Max said nothing. His face, and especially his ears, became redder for several minutes, and his eyes looked misty. He smiled at his wife and her younger double then at Rahn.**

**"I need to help you now… all of you," Rahn said, trying to stand up. **

**Max started to suggest that Rahn should rest first, but then he remembered that his own double was in much worse shape than he was… and there was no way to know how the others who had been touched were faring. He helped Rahn to stand up. Rahn stood on his legs for several moments, as the strength came back into them. Then he turned to the younger Liz, who had just saved his life.**

**"Let me check you first."**

**Liz nodded. Rahn put one finger near her temple and one behind her ear and nodded then smiled.**

**"It is just as I thought. I prepared your mind when I gave you the power to transform your spine. J'Shalo did not know this. He thought that every one of you had been affected by his touch, but you were not."**

**Rahn reached toward the other Liz and placed his fingers on her head the same way. Then he concentrated for several moments.**

**"There. You should be okay now."**

**He motioned to Max. Max stepped closer, and Rahn placed a finger behind his temple and another behind his ear and concentrated. Then he opened his eyes and smiled.**

**"Was that all there was to it," Max asked.**

**"That's all there was to it for you," Rahn replied. "I prepared your mind just now. You see, what J'Shalo did was activate the part of your mind that sends orders to shapeshift. But he did not also activate the other parts of the mind that would allow you to control it. Without that ability, you would become more and more out of control. Eventually, you would be changing into different things constantly… totally out of control… or more likely, your body would simply destroy itself trying to do something that it cannot do… because you are not shapeshifters. The strain would kill you. At some point, your mind would rupture. Then you would simply collapse onto the ground… and be dead… turn into dust if you are Antarian. J'Shalo counted on this."**

**"But… Nasedo was one of our protectors, Max said, clearly having trouble understanding how the Nasedo of this dimension could have done what he did. "How could he turn against us like this?"**

**"Nasedo has been away from Antar and from his charges for too long. He is basically not what you would call a nice person. He kills… and it doesn't bother him. Once, he was forced by an oath stronger than death to protect you, but after so much time… that devotion has worn away. The final shreds of J'Shalo's devotion disappeared when he found out that on Antar there is no longer a king."**

**"And Kivar?" Max asked.**

**Rahn shook his head. "Kivar was killed five years ago. Antar is dominated by factions now… disjointed factions. None of them have the support of most of the people."**

**Max nodded, absorbing what Rahn had said. "Let's go, Rahn. Can you walk now?"**

**Rahn nodded. "I think so."**

**"Good. We need you to help my double… and the others Nasedo touched… while there's still time."**

**Max held Rahn by the arm to make sure he didn't fall while they left Rahn's room, but Rahn's strength was returning faster than Max would have thought possible. Rahn, Max, and both Lizzes ran to the younger Max's room. He was lying on the floor now, and his body looked like a large sack that someone was struggling to escape from. Arms and legs would appear randomly all over his body, suddenly protruding from nowhere. Appendages that Max didn't even recognize appeared on his body then disappeared just as quickly as they had come. For a moment, the young Max became covered with feathers, then just as quickly, he looked like a fish flopping on the ground out of the water. What was totally obvious was that his body would not be able to stand this stress for much longer. His mind would rupture, and it would be over. **

**Varec, standing at the younger Max's side, had done everything for him that he knew how to do and then some, but this was clearly beyond Varec's abilities, as vast as they were. He had already requested an aide to assist him in moving Max to the healing ward, a place rarely used on the New Granolith, since no one got sick there and Max could heal most injuries on site.**

**Rahn reached out and touched the side of the young Max's head, placing one finger behind the right temple and another behind the right ear, somehow holding his fingers there as Max flopped around on the floor. After a few mere seconds, Max's body relaxed… then became calm. The look on his face went from agony to utter relaxation.**

**"He will live," Rahn said simply. "He will be fine. We need to find the others."**

**Max of Antar looked at his double. The young Max was lying on the floor, sound asleep after his ordeal. The younger Liz and her Antarian double took the cover off the bed and covered him up with it.**

**"He'll sleep it off," Rahn said. "We need to go. Varec can stay with him."**

**The others knew that he was right. What had happened to the young Max could very well be happening to the others as they spoke.**

**Max rushed to the room of his best friend from Antar, Michael Guerin, with Rahn and both Lizzes right behind him. He knocked on the door urgently, and Maria, Michael's wife, opened the door.**

**"Maria! Are you guys okay?" Liz asked. **

**Maria nodded. "Well… maybe you'd better tell me what you mean by 'okay,' Liz. We're still here and… yeah, I guess we're okay. But something weird's going on."**

**"Like… how weird?" Liz asked. Maria turned and pointed toward Michael, who was just emerging from the bathroom. He had a full-blown feather sticking down out of his chin.**

**"You didn't shave it off?" Maria asked. "I thought you were going to shave it off?"**

**Michael winced and shook his head. "I can't. It feels like part of me. When I try to cut it, it's like trying to cut my nose off or something. It hurts."**

**Max looked at the feather approvingly. "Well, it does give you a nice… different… look, Michael. If it were on the top of your head instead of on your chin, you could leave it there and say you were a Mesaliko."**

**"Oh, yeah, funny," Michael said, clearly not as amused as Max.**

**"Is that all that's happened to you so far," Max asked.**

**"All? Isn't that enough?" Michael asked in an exasperated tone of voice.**

**"Well, I'm just surprised, that's all," Max said.**

**"Why?"**

**Max sat down and quickly explained to Michael and Maria about what Nasedo had done and the expected consequences to those he had touched.**

**"Let me touch you," Rahn said. "I'll fix it."**

**Michael nodded silently and leaned forward to let Rahn prepare his mind with the mind touch. Rahn placed his fingers on Michael's head, and immediately the feather began to retract into the skin of his chin, totally disappearing after about ten to twelve seconds. Michael rubbed his hand over his chin approvingly…**

**"When I need a shave, Rahn, I'll call you. You do good work!"**

**"Thanks," Rahn said sincerely. "But I do not do shaves."**

**"He was joking, Rahn," Maria said.**

**Rahn smiled. "I thought so. But I wasn't sure."**

**Rahn reached out and touched Maria's head for several seconds, and Maria relaxed as the mind adjustment took effect.**

**"You will be okay, now," Rahn said. "I have made the adjustment."**

**Maria looked at her fingers and smiled. "I guess you're right."**

**"What was wrong with your fingers," Michael asked.**

**"Nothing important," Maria replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I just had webs between my fingers… like an otter or something. They're gone now."**

**"You didn't tell me that," Michael exclaimed, alarmed that he had not known.**

**Maria shrugged. "It was nothing. I kept my fingers together so you wouldn't see it. I didn't want you worrying about me when you had that… uh… feather to worry about in your chin."**

**Michael looked at Maria aghast. "Maybe I want to worry about you, Maria. You're my whole life! My God, if anything happened to you…"**

**Maria puckered her lips playfully. "Well, it didn't. I'm just fine."**

**"If something like this ever happens again, Maria, I want to know! I want to worry! I want to make sure you're okay. Okay?"**

**Maria kissed Michael on the lips and smiled. "You take good care of me all the time, Michael. Let me take care of you when you need it."**

**Michael sighed and shook his head, then he relaxed and put both arms around Maria, pulling her to him and kissing her.**

**Max turned his head and put one hand over his eyes. Noticing Max's feigned modesty, Liz threw both of her arms around his neck and kissed him, too.**

**"I think I understand this human ritual…" Rahn said with a puzzled look. "But I do not always understand what precipitates it."**

**After several moments, both couples separated, and Rahn quickly suggested that they find the others right away. "They may not have suffered as few consequences as you and Maria did," he reminded them. Max and Michael both nodded their agreement and headed for the door.**

**Moments later, a few doors down the hall, Max knocked on the younger Michael's door, and Maria came to the door.**

**"Oh, Max!" Maria's voice sounded full of desperation. "Am I glad to see you! Michael called me. He wasn't feeling well, and now he's having seizures or something!"**

**Max looked at the younger Michael lying on the bed. He did appear to be seizuring.**

**"It is an effect of the touch," Rahn said, hurrying to place his hand to Michael's head at the proper points. "His mind is shifting continuously, but his body is not able to interpret the commands from his mind. The result is seizures."**

**"Can you help him," Maria asked. But as she spoke, Rahn's touch began to take effect, and Michael became calm, then he opened his eyes and looked around him.**

**"Are we having a party? What's everybody doing here?"**

**"You were having your own party, Michael," Max said. "Not one you'd want to go back to, though, I'm afraid."**

**Rahn turned from Michael and placed his hand to Maria's head at the necessary points for several seconds then smiled.**

**"You'll be okay now, too."**

**"Maria, didn't you have any unusual reactions?" Liz asked. **

**"Yeah… I guess I did," Maria replied. "But I was so worried about Michael, I didn't have time to die."**

**Everyone laughed, and Liz of Antar smiled then hugged the young double of her best friend and nodded. **

**"Well said, Maria! Well said!"**

**"We must check on the others," Rahn reminded them, hurrying everyone toward the door again.**

**"We need to see if Isabel is alright!" the younger Maria exclaimed. She looked at Michael as though to ask if he would be okay now, but instead of saying, Go ahead, Michael got up and walked toward the door with them.**

**"Can you make it," Maria asked, putting a supporting arm around Michael. Michael just gave her that patented crooked grin that said, What do you think?**

**Together, the group ran to the younger Isabel's room, and Maria knocked… "Isabel! Are you in there? Isabel?"**

**There was no answer. Maria looked at Max, and Max nodded. Maria passed her hand over the sensor, and the door opened.**

**"Omigod!" her double from Antar exclaimed, "We must have the same handprint!" **

**Though the sensors were set to respond to all the Antarian crew members, including the Maria from Antar, they had never been reset to recognize the younger doubles. Only their own rooms and common areas had been set to respond to them. It wasn't a matter of trust; no one had seen any reason to reset everyone else's doors to respond to the doubles from this dimension. Apparently, it hadn't been necessary, it would now seem.**

**"Isabel!" the younger Maria called out again to her friend… "Isabel, where are you? Are you here?"**

**Maria looked around the room, in the bathroom, then in the closets. There was no one.**

**"I don't think she's here," she said, turning to Michael and Max.**

**"Looks like that," Max agreed. "We need to look for her. Let's go see about Alex. Maybe she went to his room."**

**"Yeah! That's probably where she is!" Maria said, nodding vigorously. "Let's go."**

**The group ran down the hall and around the corner to the younger Alex's room. Again, Maria knocked. The door opened, and Alex appeared. Well… it kind of looked like Alex. Maria had to take a second look to be sure. He was covered in long, shaggy hair from head to toe.**

**"Omigod, Alex, you look like… like bigfoot… without the big feet," Maria gasped. Then she looked at Alex's feet… just to be sure. **

**"Oh, gee, thanks, Maria. I'm not bigfoot… I think he's inside of me trying to get out. I feel awful."**

**"That must be hot," Michael said, running his fingers through the foot-long hair on Alex's arms and face in awe.**

**"That's an understatement," Alex said. "Try hot, itchy, sweaty… and downright friggin' smelly. God, I hope Isabel doesn't see me like this!"**

**"You mean she's not here?" Maria asked, alarmed.**

**"I haven't seen her," Alex said. "To tell the truth, I haven't wanted anyone to see me… but right now, I'm starting to wish she were here… even if I am… what I am. I'm not sure how long I have left. I don't know what's happening to me, and if I'm gonna die… I don't want to die without seeing Isabel again. Is there some kind of alien virus or something you guys never told us about, Max?"**

**"It's… something else, Alex." Max motioned to Rahn, and Rahn reached out to touch the side of Alex's head. Alex pulled back instinctively, but then he allowed Rahn to touch him. He seemed to relax almost immediately. Moments later, the long hair began to disappear. It was an odd sight. The hair rapidly got shorter and shorter, looking for all the world like it was being pulled back into Alex's arms, face, chest, legs, feet… every part of his body. After about two minutes, the hair was gone… except what he had had before the ordeal. Alex was normal again.**

**"What did you do?" Alex asked Rahn, amazed by what had just happened. "I feel a hundred percent better. A thousand percent!"**

**"It's a bit of a long story, Alex," Max said. "We'll explain on the way. We have to find your Isabel… and we still have to find our Alex and Isabel and help them, too."**

**Alex looked suddenly pale. "Isabel's in danger? She's affected with this… whatever it is, too?"**

**"We all had it," Michael said. "We just had different reactions. The end result would have been the same for all of us, though. We all would have died… if it hadn't been for Rahn… and Liz. Liz saved Rahn's life, and he's returning the favor for the rest of us."**

**They walked rapidly down the hall towards the older Alex and Isabel's room, as Rahn and Michael took turns trying to explain to the younger Alex what had happened. On the way there, they met the young Max, who was determined to join the others after awakening from his brief nap feeling greatly refreshed and better than he had felt for some time. When they arrived at Alex and Isabel's room, Max of Antar knocked on the door.**

**"Alex! Izzy! Are you guys in there?" Max waited for an answer but heard nothing. Without bothering to call again, Max opened the door and went in, followed by the others.**

**"I don't see them," Maria said, looking around.**

**Liz went to check the bathroom, while Alex checked the closets and Max looked behind the bed.**

**"Where could they have gone," Maria asked. Then something dripped onto her arm, like rain. Maria looked up. There was something floating near the ceiling… something formless and ethereal. It began to drip more then dropped slowly to the floor at Maria's feet, like a cloud dropping to the ground.**

**"Ewwww!" Maria exclaimed, shaking the strange raindrops off of her arm. "What is this?"**

**Rahn looked at the formless cloud floating near the floor. "I think… that used to be Isabel… or Alex… Maybe both."**

**"Oh my God…" Maria whispered, turning pale. "Can you help her… them… Rahn? Do something!"**

**Rahn placed his hand over the pulsing, spreading cloud, but then he pulled his hand back.**

**"I cannot… I cannot find the head. It is all one big… formless mass. We will have to wait and see if it changes again."**

**"Could that happen?" Maria asked.**

**"It is possible," Rahn said. "But it is not certain."**

**For ten minutes, they watched the large plasma-like cloud spread and then contract, occasionally moving in one direction or another with slow, undulating movements. Then something changed.**

**From the corner of the mass, an ear appeared. It was enough. Rahn reached down and placed his two fingers in the proper positions, and the cloud of plasma began immediately to reshape itself. After thirty seconds, it looked vaguely human. After another thirty seconds, it was clear that Alex was back. He immediately grabbed the sheet off the bed and wrapped himself in it tightly, his clothes having somehow disappeared. **

**But there was still a large cloud of plasma floating near the floor.**

**Falling onto the floor beside the remaining mass, Alex pleaded with it…**

**"Change, Isabel… Please… Change back." He looked at Rahn imploringly. Help her, Rahn. Do whatever you did to me. Bring her back! Please!"**

**"I am trying," Rahn said. "But I must know where to touch. It is impossible."**

**Alex reached under the cloudlike mass and picked it up in his hands. It stayed together, though it looked like it might not. **

**"Iz, come back… please!" **

**When Alex said this, a part of Isabel's head reappeared momentarily, and Rahn seized his opportunity. As Rahn touched the points he had just seen, the mass began to reshape, slowly taking on the form of a human… then after a while, of Isabel.**

**Moments later, fully reformed, Isabel fell into Alex's arms, and he wrapped his sheet around her, too, and held her there.**

**"What happened to us," Isabel asked, still shaking though feeling like herself again for the first time in a long while.**

**"Yes, I want to know that, too," Alex said.**

**"It's kind of hard to explain," Max said. "The short answer is, we have an intruder on board… Nasedo. He did something to all of us in our sleep that caused our minds to go out of control, shifting, or trying to shift, continuously. If it had continued, it would have been fatal for all of us. Rahn was able to stop it, but we still have to find the other Isabel. From what Nasedo told Rahn, we think she's the last one of his victims. But we can't find her."**

**"She's not in her room?" Alex asked.**

**"No." Maria shook her head.**

**"Maybe she's in your room, Maria," Isabel said.**

**"My room?"**

**Isabel nodded. "You saved her life… in the caves. The two of you were very close for awhile. And she is my double, after all. If I were your Isabel… from your dimension… that's where I would have gone if I were having these problems… to check on you and Alex, to make sure the two of you were okay."**

**Alex nodded thoughtfully. "I did hear someone knock on my door before you did, Max. But I was… well… I didn't want to be seen. If it was Isabel, she may have gone to check on Maria when I didn't answer."**

**"Let's go," Maria said, rushing out the door. Everyone else followed. At Maria's room, Maria ran her hand quickly over the sensor, and the door opened. Everyone went in.**

**"Isabel!" Maria shouted, spotting her friend lying on the bed, as she rushed in.**

**Isabel lifted her head up and managed a weak smile.**

**"Maria! I was… was… so worried about you. Something is happening to me. I was afraid… for you… that you might be sick, too. Where's Alex?"**

**"I'm here," Alex said, rushing to Isabel's side, as Maria sat down on the other side of her.**

**"Maria and I are fine now, Iz. We were affected, but Rahn fixed it. He's going to help you, too."**

**Isabel looked at her legs. They were fused together, making it impossible for her to walk. It could have been a shift gone wrong that was supposed to turn her into a snake or some other legless creature. In any case, she still looked human… except for the fused legs.**

**Rahn touched Isabel near the temple and behind the ear, and she relaxed visibly and instantly, then her legs began to separate into two individual legs again. The whole process happened very quickly, taking no more than twenty to thirty seconds. **

**Rahn could change from a human into a small bird, a bat, a huge grizzly bear, or even a large snake in under five seconds if there was the need… but he was amazed that these humans and Antarian hybrids were shifting at all. He would have expected them to all react more as Michael had… suffering seizures, not changing form. Nasedo had activated a part of the brain that created and emitted shapeshifting signals to the body, but human and Antarian bodies were not capable of shapeshifting… except in very limited ways… ways that did not actually change the size or external shape of their bodies. Every shapeshifter knew that. **

**And Nasedo had not activated the parts of the brain that would keep the signals in check. The result should have been seizures… and eventual death. The brain would fire uncontrollably, but the body would not be able to respond properly. Without the control centers functioning, even a shapeshifter would be in trouble. The odd thing was… these humans and Antarians did shift. It was not controlled or desirable, but they actually did shift… except for the young Michael. And if the others did it… Michael might learn to.**

**Then again, it was entirely possibly, Rahn knew, that with the control centers of the brain now open and activated and the signals in check, their bodies might never shift again. The shifting might have been entirely the result of their lack of ability to control the cascading signals… like a broken high power cord snaking all over the place… When it is repaired, it remains still, because the signal… the power… is properly channeled. Human and Antarian bodies were not supposed to shift… ergo, it must have been a unique occurrence brought on by unusual and unforeseen circumstances, and it would most likely not reoccur, Rahn decided. **

**Then again… he wondered…**

**Isabel hugged Alex then hugged Maria to herself, as the others told her of their own experiences.**

**"I had to know that the two of you were alright," Isabel said to Alex and Maria, sitting beside her on the bed. I can't imagine you as bigfoot, Alex! I wish you had let me in."**

**"I wish I had, too," Alex said. "I'm sorry, Izzy. I didn't know what was happening. I just felt so… self-conscious about looking like… well… bigfoot… without the big feet."**

**Isabel rolled over and kissed Alex. "I love you, Charles Alexander Whitman… hairy or whatever. Don't ever forget it."**

**Alex nodded. "I know. I love you, too, Iz… and I would even if you had turned into a mermaid or something."**

**"Now that sounds like a match," Max said playfully… "Bigfoot and the mermaid!"**

**The others laughed. **

**"It might be preferable to being a plasma cloud, the older Alex from Antar said, thinking of himself and Isabel. "How the heck did that happen? We were just holding each other to comfort each other, because we weren't feeling well, and the next thing I knew, we kind of… dissolved or something and floated away."**

**Rahn nodded. "It's not really as strange as it looked… or sounds, Alex. The two of you didn't actually shapeshift… you more or less failed to shapeshift."**

**"You want to explain that, Rahn?"**

**"Well, you see, you reverted to a sort of primordial mass… something that had no form at all. You kind of… de-formed… you lost your forms… you turned into the basic components of life… you were a formless mass waiting to be formed. Do you understand?"**

**Isabel nodded silently.**

**"Well, I'm glad we seem to have headed off the problem and everyone is okay," Max said. "And I'm glad you're back with us, too, Mini Me," he added to his younger double. The younger Max pointed a finger at Max from Antar and gave him a quick shock of power to the arm from six feet away. Max yelped and fanned his arm then rubbed it. "Yeah, you're definitely back alright!"**

**The younger Max blew on the tip of his finger and smiled… "Just so you remember."**

**"No more 'Mini Me,' huh?"**

**"You got it."**

**Max of Antar nodded. "Well, I guess you have outgrown that. I'll have to think of something else to call you."**

**"Well, guys, we have one more thing we have to do," Michael said.**

**Liz nodded, understanding exactly what Michael was going to say. The others all knew, too.**

**"We've got a shapeshifter to track down on our ship," Max said for him. "Any suggestions?"**

**Isabel nodded. "How good is Jung-Jo at tracking shapeshifters?"**

**Max smiled. "Pretty good, I'd be willing to bet. Let's find out."**

**tbc**


	43. Dreams42

The Night The Dreams Died 

**One Pawgor, One Shapeshifter**

**Chapter 42**

**XLII******

**Jung-Jo appeared to be smiling. It was that satisfied look that only a cat truly has. But Jung-Jo had reasons to smile. Since arriving onboard the New Granolith, he had been a certifiable celebrity. Everyone wanted to pet him. Everyone wanted to walk him. Everyone wanted to hug him… especially the girls. Jung-Jo rolled over, and Maria, Liz, and Isabel rubbed his tummy while he purred with approval, with all four legs relaxed, paws hanging over limply, and a big cat grin on his face. Amy and Tess watched from the side and waited for their turns to pet Jung-Jo, too.**

**"If only I had been a pawgor when I was in high school," Alex quipped, shaking his head with a grin. "Who'd have guessed! And he doesn't even play football."**

**"Well, he's got purr-fect charm," Max said with a wry smile. Alex shook his head and groaned. Max and Michael both laughed.**

**At that moment, Jim Valenti walked up, accompanied by his double from Antar. The Jim from Antar was holding a pillowcase in his hand…**

**"This should have Nasedo's scent on it… assuming he has a scent. It came off of Max's pillow. I'm hoping Nasedo touched it when he touched you, Max. Even if he just leaned over it, there may be enough of a scent for Jung-Jo to find his trail. We've already looked everywhere we know to look for him, but him being a shapeshifter, we don't know for sure what he'll look like when we find him. He could be disguised, and we could look right at him and not know it was him. He won't fool Jung-Jo, though." Jim patted the smiling pawgor on the side.**

**"Here you go, boy. Get a good whiff of this."**

**The pawgor sniffed the pillowcase, seeming to understand Jim's meaning even without Danyy being there to "translate," then it turned around a couple of times, sniffing the air, and trotted straight over to Max. Max put his hand on Jung-Jo's head and patted him…**

**"Good boy, Jung-Jo! You're right! That's my scent on the pillowcase. Do you smell any other scent on my pillow?"**

**Jung-Jo sniffed the air and walked over to Liz. Max grinned sheepishly.**

**"Okay… besides Liz, Jung-Jo? Anybody else?"**

**Jung-Jo looked around and walked over to Jim from Antar.**

**"I carried the pillowcase out here," Jim said. "Is there any other smell on it, Jung-Jo?"**

**Jung-Jo sniffed the pillowcase again then sniffed the air in all directions. Then he sniffed the floor and headed off down the hall.**

**"I think he's onto something," Jim said, hurrying to keep up with Jung-Jo, as the others all tried to keep up. The further Jung-Jo went down the hall the faster he ran. Fortunately, every now and then, he stopped to sniff the air or the floor. Then he would be off again. He led the group straight to the glass ascension chamber.**

**Max passed his hand over the sensor, and the chamber opened and everyone got in with the pawgor and Jim.**

**"How will we know what floor he went to," Maria asked.**

**"I don't know," Jim replied honestly. "We'll have to stop at each floor and let Jung-Jo sniff the air I guess."**

**Michael nodded. "Sounds reasonable."**

**The ascension chamber went down to the cargo bay, and the door opened. Jung-Jo sniffed the air for several moments. He looked unsure at first but seemed to decide that this wasn't where Nasedo was anymore.**

**"I don't think Nasedo's scent is fresh down here," Jim said. "He probably smells an old scent that he knows is not as new as the one where we started out."**

**"Smart kitty," Isabel said.**

**Jim nodded. "Yes, he is." Jim closed the door back and pressed level two on the control pad. The ascension chamber started up. After a moment, it stopped again and the door opened.**

**"Dining Room and Galley," Jim said. "Anything up here, Jung-Jo?"**

**Jung-Jo licked his lips. Jim nodded. "Yeah, it does smell good. We'll have time to eat soon, though." Jim closed the door again.**

**"We can skip the living quarters on level three. That's where we started out."**

**The ascension chamber stopped on level four. "Bridge and control deck," Jim announced as the door opened. Jung-Jo sniffed the air but did not seem to smell anything unusual. Jim closed the door and pressed the "up" button. Moments later, the chamber stopped again.**

**"Level five," Jim announced. "The gardens."**

**Jung-Jo sniffed, but again, he didn't seem to pick up the expected scent. Jim closed the door and pressed "up" again.**

**"Well, we've just got the arboretum and the observatory left. If we're going to find him, he has to be on one of these two floors. The chamber stopped again.**

**"Level six," Jim announced. "The arboretum." The door opened, and Jung-Jo sniffed the air then leapt out of the chamber, headed at a trot down the path. **

**"Bingo," Jim said, hurrying off after the big cat.**

**The group stepped out of the glass ascension chamber onto a neat pathway that led through a small forest of trees. It was a pleasant place to go for a walk, and the crew of the New Granolith came here often, usually as couples, to walk along the paths. Everyone who had been to the arboretum had commented on how much energy they seemed to have and how well they felt after walking through the tree park. Undoubtedly, it had something to do with the fact that the air here was saturated with a superabundance of oxygen. In fact, it was the arboretum that supplied oxygen to the ship during its long voyages in space.**

**The path through the arboretum began and ended at the same place, so there was no need to turn around and return the way one had come. It had been designed to meander back and forth through the trees, giving the stroller the maximum possible walking distance, about a mile and a half. At a point that lay in the actual center of the arboretum, there was a gazebo with a porch-type swing; but further along on the trail, there was a small clearing where one could lie down by a clear little brook that provided water to the trees, have a picnic, or swing on a two-person swing suspended by vines from high up in one of the trees. Max and Liz knew this area well. It was one of their favorites.**

**But now, Jung-Jo was headed off down the path through the trees at a gallop, and everyone was running to try to keep up, which turned out to be an impossible endeavor. Jim of Antar and his local counterpart weren't far behind Jung-Jo, but most of the rest of the group had fallen back pretty far. Everyone else followed, knowing that eventually Jung-Jo had to stop, and they would catch up again.**

**They reached the gazebo, but Jung-Jo had apparently blown right by here. Liz and Maria were tempted to take a rest and hang out on the porch-type swing at the gazebo for a few minutes but decided to keep going instead, mostly because Max and Michael would have insisted on staying with them so that they wouldn't be alone here with Nasedo hanging out somewhere in the area. They already knew that they were slowing Max and Michael down, and Liz and Maria were no slowpokes themselves. Isabel seemed to have longer legs than the other girls, because she and Alex had pretty much left the rest of the group behind, but they hadn't caught up to Jim or his double yet, much less to Jung-Jo. Amy was nowhere to be seen. Liz was concerned, but Max was pretty sure that he had seen Amy far ahead of them at some point.**

**As Jim and his double rounded a corner in the path, they found Jung-Jo waiting for them. But the big cat had no intention of hanging around. The moment Jim was in sight, Jung-Jo leapt off the path and made his own bee-line through the trees, heading deep into the small forest. Jim and his double followed, with Amy right behind her husband. Isabel and Alex came around the bend just in time to see the two Jims and Amy head off the path and through the trees. Alex noted the way they went and stopped momentarily.**

**"We better wait till the others catch up, so they'll know where everyone went."**

**Isabel nodded. They didn't have to wait long. Max, Liz, Michael, Maria, and their doubles, along with Tess and Rayylar, rounded the corner only seconds behind them.**

**"They went this way," Isabel yelled, then Alex rushed into the trees with Isabel by the hand. The others followed.**

**The arboretum was small for a forest. It was really more of a large arboreal park. But one could get lost there. The one and a half miles of meandering pathway through the arboretum ran through twelve acres of dense trees that one could get lost in, though eventually, walking in any direction would get one back to the path at some point or another. There was also a small brook that meandered through the arboretum, providing a source of water to the trees as well as a pleasant place for couples to stop along the path to relax and enjoy the serenity of nature… and each other. This brook ran into the trees, crossing the path in one or two places and running alongside the path briefly in another place.**

**Michael, Max, and the others had now caught up to Alex and Isabel, and Michael was pointing out the way Jung-Jo had gone by the trail of broken twigs and small limbs… and other indicators along the way.**

**"Have you been taking tracking lessons from Gray Hawk," Liz asked Michael of Antar.**

**Michael smiled. "No. It's a necessary skill in my line of work."**

**Liz knew what Michael meant. He was the General of all the Armies of Antar. It was somewhat of an overblown title, of course. There was only one army on Antar. But as someone had once pointed out, if there had been more armies, Michael would have been in charge of them. And he was, after all, charged with the safety and protection of an entire planet. It was not surprising that Michael had decided to hone his tracking skills along the way. **

**"They went through here," Michael said, lifting a vine for the others to go under. Then he took the lead again and continued following the trail left by the big cat and by the two Jims and Amy. After about ten minutes, Michael came to the brook. He looked both ways for any clue as to which way the pawgor might have gone, then he crossed the brook and looked around. He spotted what he was looking for, a bent twig. **

**"This way," he shouted. Everyone followed. Five minutes later, they passed under an overhang and emerged into a small clearing. Jung-Jo was walking around in the clearing, with Jim, his double, and Amy following close behind.**

**"What do you smell?" Jim asked Jung-Jo. "Is Nasedo near?"**

**The pawgor stopped at one tree and sniffed it then went on to another tree. He sniffed this tree, too.**

**"He was here," Jim said with certainty. "Jung-Jo smells his scent on these trees."**

**The pawgor sniffed several more trees in the small clearing then sniffed a small, thorny bush. After sniffing the bush, Jung-Jo turned around and lifted his leg, soaking the bush.**

**"Is that what you were looking for, Jung-Jo," Jim asked. "A place to relieve yourself?"**

**The cat looked satisfied.**

**"Okay, we all have to go sometimes. Now let's find Nasedo."**

**Jung-Jo turned around and sniffed the already thoroughly soaked bush again. It seemed to be shaking… like the leaves of an aspen. But Jim did not feel any breeze. Jim walked over to the bush and took a close look. As he did, the bush began to change. It all happened in less than three seconds. The bush became a very wet squirrel, and up the nearest tree it went, with Jung-Jo right behind.**

**"Man that cat can climb a tree!" Jim said admiringly.**

**At the top of the tree, the squirrel changed again, this time into a red hawk, spreading its wings wide and leaping into the air, heading for freedom somewhere else in the arboretum. But if Nasedo was fast, he wasn't fast enough. Jung-Jo leapt from his perch in the tree and snatched the hawk by one wing in mid-air, landing neatly in the tree next to the one he had leapt out of. Then he scampered down that tree with the big hawk held firmly behind his two-foot-long front saber-teeth.**

**"Well, well, well…" Jim said, patting the proud-looking pawgor on the head. "What do we have here? A bush that changes into a squirrel that changes into a red-tail hawk? …And in our arboretum! I don't remember us having anything like that up here.**

**The hawk made a momentary effort to turn back into human form, but the pawgor's mouth was too confining.**

**"I wouldn't try to do that," Jim said. "Jung-Jo really hates things moving around in his mouth… and he's hungry, too."**

**"What are you going to do with me," the hawk asked.**

**"It talks!" Jim said, feigning amazement. It did look odd, actually. Nasedo had used his human voice while remaining in the form of a hawk. But that was not really difficult for one who could change his vocal chords or any other part of himself at will.**

**"That's a good question," Jim said. "What are we going to do with him, Max?"**

**"I hadn't thought about it," Max admitted. "…I mean in the long run… we can't leave him here on earth. After we're gone he would find a way to be a problem again."**

**"Staying on earth is not what I had in mind," the hawk replied. "I wish to return to Antar."**

**"Where you can take over the planet and become the next Kivar," Max said. "I heard. Sorry, but that's out of the question, too."**

**Max looked at Jung-Jo. He seemed quite happy holding the terrified hawk prisoner behind his huge teeth.**

**"Let Jung-Jo carry him back to the third level for us. We can find a way to restrain him there… a nice little cage or something that he can't get out of."**

**"I don't think a cage would hold him," Michael said. "He could just become something small enough to slip through the bars."**

**Max nodded. "You're probably right. Let's see if Rahn can help us come up with something."**

**"Good idea," Michael agreed. "A shapeshifter should know how to control a shapeshifter."**

**The group looked around then headed back through the forest of trees toward the path. Once back at the path, they followed the path the rest of the way around and back to the beginning and the ascension chamber, which they took back down to the third floor. Everyone got out on the third floor, including Jung-Jo, with the hawk still trapped helplessly behind his big teeth.**

**Max knocked on Rahn's door, and Rahn opened the door.**

**"We've got a present for you," Michael said. Rahn looked at Jung-Jo and at the hawk in his mouth. He didn't need to ask what it was. He knew.**

**"What are you going to do with him?"**

**"That's what we wanted to ask you, Rahn," Max said. "You're a shapeshifter. How do you control a shapeshifter? And the other question we had… what do we do with him? We can't lock him up forever. And we haven't done any executions on Antar since I've been king. I could make an exception, though." Max said this to let Nasedo know that he was serious.**

**"If he were returned to Antar, he could be turned over to the council of shapeshifters," Rahn said. "They would make sure that he was no longer a problem. He has broken many shapeshifter laws."**

**Max nodded. "I had heard that the shapeshifters have their own laws, but they live peacefully under our laws at the same time."**

**"That may be in your dimension," Rahn said. "But in this dimension, if there is no longer a king on Antar, the shapeshifters will be the only law in their community. But shapeshifter law is fair and just."**

**"How do we restrain him," Max asked. "If we need to take him back to Antar in our dimension, he will need to be restrained."**

**"You could take him to Antar in this dimension," Rahn said. "The shapeshifters here can take care of him. As for restraining him, that is more difficult. A small amount of poison from the Xiangar viper would take away his power to shift. It would be difficult… to determine how much poison to give him to remove his powers temporarily but not kill him. But it can be done. It would be a very small amount… much less than he injected into me when he bit me."**

**"Can you determine the right amount, Rahn, or should I ask Varec to help you?"**

**Rahn thought for a few moments. "It would be best if Varec could make the calculations. That is his field… as a scientist. I will create the poison the same way J'Shalo did, by becoming a Xiangar viper. Varec can give it to him in the correct dose… enough to strip his powers… not enough to kill him."**

**Max nodded and looked at Michael. Michael shrugged. "It's the best thing, Max. What else can we do? It's more humane than letting Jung-Jo eat him."**

**Max looked at the terrified hawk in Jung-Jo's mouth and nodded. "But then again, Michael, Jung-Jo is very hungry after that trek. It would be kinder to Jung-Jo to let him have the hawk."**

**Michael nodded, giving Max a quick understanding wink. "Let me think about it. If Nasedo moves in there or tries to escape, I'll let Jung-Jo eat him."**

**"Good," Max replied. Both Max and Michael knew that Nasedo was listening, and they were quite sure that he would be a little more cooperative if he thought he might be eaten. In the end, though, until they removed him from the pawgor's mouth, Nasedo would be going nowhere. Jung-Jo himself would see to that.**

**tbc**


	44. Dreams43

Thanks, ParkerEvanss and Presea101 & everyone reading! I love all your reviews! And ParkerEvanss, I love it that you seem to find all the best parts. :)

The Night The Dreams Died

**Midnight Pow-Wow**

**Part 1 – Rahn's Quest**

**Chapter 43**

**XLIII******

**Gray Hawk looked at the red-tail hawk inside the cage in Michael's room on the New Granolith and nodded approvingly…**

**"So… you put a drop of the poison of the viper on his food each time he eats… to keep him from changing into something else again… What would happen if he decided not to eat your food?"**

**Michael smiled. "He has a choice. He can eat… and be a bird for now… or starve. Nobody's going to give him anything else to eat. Nasedo's made his choice."**

**Michael handed the large hawk a small piece of raw yegg meat, and the hawk grudgingly ate it.**

**Gray Hawk nodded. "Apparently he has. What will you do with him? Will you take him to your planet?"**

**Michael breathed in deeply. "That's the big, big question, Gray Hawk. We've been talking about it, but no decision has been made yet."**

**"You need to have pow-wow," Gray Hawk said authoritatively. "Get everyone together… make decisions. You have many questions to resolve… and little time."**

**Michael nodded. "I know. Things are getting very difficult down there for Max… well, for both of them. People camp out under the ship hoping to be healed. And the hospital sends a special car every day to take Max and his double to the hospital to heal more people. The word is spreading all over the country… even around the world! Max is helping all he can already. I think he'd heal everyone in the world if he could… but he can't do it, Gray Hawk. He'll kill himself. I've got to make him see that."**

**Gray Hawk nodded understandingly. "Maybe he knows it. Maybe he just has not figured out what to do about it. You need pow-wow. Soon!"**

**"Yeah, I know." Michael nodded his head with resignation. "I'll get Max and the others together…"**

**"Soon!"**

**"Yeah… soon… today. Tomorrow at the latest."**

**Gray Hawk smiled. "You can use my pow-wow room."**

**Michael grinned in spite of the concerns weighing on his mind, but shook his head. "I think not, Gray Hawk… but thanks. I wouldn't be able to get anyone to concentrate on making decisions in there with that big-screen TV and stereo system. We'll meet here on the ship… maybe in the observatory. You should be there, too, Gray Hawk. We could use your wisdom."**

**Gray Hawk raised his head, and a smile crossed his lips. **

**"I'll expect you," Michael said. "I'll let you know the exact time as soon as I know it. I need to talk to Max and a couple of the others."**

**----------**

**Jeff Parker flipped a burger over on the grill in the kitchen of the CrashDown and ran the back of his hand over his sweating brow. He barely noticed the figure at the window at first, but then a movement caught his eye, and he turned to look. It was a roadrunner… in the open window. The bird hopped off the windowsill and into the CrashDown, then Jeff watched as it turned into a man.**

**"Having trouble getting out of the ship without being seen these days, Rahn?" Jeff asked with a smile.**

**"It is a bit of a problem," Rahn replied honestly. "Anyone who comes down from the ship is surrounded by people wanting to know where Max is… and when they can get healed. It's much easier to fly out."**

**"Lucky you," Jeff said. "Too bad Max and the others can't fly out." Jeff smiled and shook his head. "I'm glad to see you, Rahn. I take it, you bring a message from Max?"**

**"Yes."**

**"You know, Rahn… you were right not to reveal your, uh, special abilities to the public. Max is having a real problem right now just because he can heal people. I don't even know what kind of problems might occur if they knew about your special ability… to shape-shift. It's fortunate that that TV lady, Diane, is on our side and is willing to keep your secret."**

**"She is very kind," Rahn agreed. "It would be a big story for her if she revealed it. But she will not. I trust her. Max trusts her. Michael trusts her."**

**"I trust her, too, Rahn," Jeff said. "They can't all be wrong. Besides, she's proved herself already. What's your message, Rahn?"**

**"Oh! Max and Michael would like for you and Mrs. Parker to be present at a meeting on the ship tonight at midnight. I know it is short notice, but Michael says that it is very important."**

**"Then I guess I'd better be there," Jeff said, managing a smile. "Nancy and I will be there. How do we… uh… get in?"**

**"Max said that he will move the ship over the CrashDown and transport you up at 10:40 tonight. You and Mrs. Parker will need to have your transport pins on you at exactly 10:40. The transporter will lock onto the crystals in the pins."**

**"We've done it before," Jeff nodded. Any place we should be standing?"**

**"Anywhere inside the CrashDown or your apartment will be okay. Just have the pins on you or in hand when 10:40 comes."**

**"I'm dying to know what this is about, Rahn, but I'm guessing you have other messages to deliver?"**

**Rahn nodded. "It is a meeting to make important decisions about… everything. You will find out more there. I don't know more than that myself."**

**Without further elaboration, Rahn shrank back into a roadrunner again then hopped onto the windowsill; and a moment later, with only a quick look back, he flew away.**

**"I wish I knew how he did that," Jeff mused to himself. "Where does all that extra body mass go… and how does he get it back to turn back into a man again? I wonder if he knows the answer himself or if he just does it." Jeff sighed. "Too many questions, I guess."**

**----------**

**Not very far away, in an upscale subdivision of Roswell, Phillip and Diane Evans sat reading the newspaper in their living room when a very persistent bird appeared in the window. At first, Phillip paid it little attention, though Diane did entertain a fleeting hope that it hadn't hurt itself crashing into the window. She quickly decided that it had not and went back to reading the home and garden section of the paper again. The bird made another noise at the window, flapping its wings against the windowpanes and looking like it wanted to come inside. Both Phillip and Diane looked up this time, and it occurred to both of them at the same time that this bird might not be what it seemed. Diane hurried to the window and opened it, and the bird hopped inside the house. She closed the window and curtains so that no one would see, and Rahn began to transform from a bird into a man. **

**Neither Diane nor Phillip had ever seen this happen before, though they were aware of Rahn's ability to shape-shift and had heard the stories of how he had appeared to Jeff and Nancy as a roadrunner before. Knowing wasn't the same as seeing, though. Standing inside the Evans' house just now, Rahn had transformed from a roadrunner into a man… all in one fluid motion; but somewhere in that three-second fluid motion, wings had stretched into arms, legs had grown from roadrunner-sized to human-sized, feathers had disappeared, and a human… well, maybe… at least he looked human… had appeared. Phillip and Diane stood speechless, their mouths open but no words coming out. For Phillip, especially, it was awkward. Phillip was a lawyer. But he had never defended a roadrunner that could change into a man before, and nothing had ever prepared him for this. **

**"Hello," Rahn said, extending his hand politely to Diane then to Phillip.**

**"Hello," both repeated back, still somewhat stunned.**

**"I am here because Max asked me to come," Rahn said, initiating the conversation. "Max… and Michael… are going to have a meeting on the ship tonight at midnight… to make some important decisions about everything. They would like for you to come to the meeting."**

**Phillip nodded silently, then Diane nodded, too.**

**"Good," Rahn said. "Max will move the ship over your house at exactly 10:50 tonight. You must have your pass chip transport pins on you or in your hands at that time so that the transporter will recognize you and take you onto the ship. You can be anywhere in your house, but you must have the pins on you at 10:50."**

**"Okay," Phillip said simply, oddly lacking for vocabulary for the first time in his life. Diane just nodded and stared at Rahn, marveling at the seeming impossibility of what she had just seen happen with her own eyes. **

**"I must go," Rahn said. "I still must speak to the Whitmans and several others."**

**Diane nodded again but then seemed to shake herself out of her silence… "Oh! Rahn! I'm… I'm sorry if we seem… distracted. It's just that… that… we've never seen you do that before… you know."**

**Rahn smiled. "I know." Walking to the front door, Rahn turned the doorknob, and the door opened. The 'man' who had just been standing in front of Phillip and Diane seemed to simply collapse and disappear, like a hollow shell caving in, as Rahn's body simply flowed downward and changed shape… and in the place of the man stood a roadrunner. The roadrunner took three hops out the front door then took to the air, adjusting its wingspan slightly to give itself better flight capability than the normal roadrunner, which has short wings and can only fly relatively short distances. But such limitations were of no concern to Rahn. This roadrunner was a marathon flyer.**

**----------**

**Several blocks away from the Evans' home, Charles and Gloria Whitman were sitting at their dining room table playing a game of scrabble when Rahn lit on the windowsill outside their living room window. Not seeing the Whitmans in their living room, Rahn flew upstairs and checked the upstairs windows. He didn't really like looking into bedroom windows. It felt strangely invasive for some unexplainable reason. He wasn't quite sure why, but it always did. This would have to be an exception, though. Rahn looked through the bedroom windows, but once again, he saw no one. For a few moments, he stood on the roof of the house, wondering how he would get their attention without having to change back from a bird into a man right out in the open where any neighbor might see. Then he noticed the garage door. There was a clearance beneath it of perhaps three feet where it had not completely shut. Rahn flew under the door then simply walked into the house through an open door from the garage into the house.**

**Sitting at his dining room table, Charles Whitman studied the tiny wood tiles in his hand intensely then sighed… **

**O U N E **

**He placed an S, an N, and an R down, making O S U N N E R.**

**"Sunner! You know… like someone getting a tan. How many points does that give me, Gloria?"**

**"Roadrunner!" Gloria said, her eyes seeming to grow suddenly larger.**

**Charles looked at the tiles again and changed a few letters…**

**R O A D R U N N E R**

**"You're right. That would have used all but one of my letters!" Then he picked the tiles up again and put the others back down. "I wish I'd seen it, but I can't let you give me answers, Gloria. You're playing against yourself again."**

**"No, Charles! A roadrunner! There!" **

**Gloria pointed toward the living room behind Charles, and Charles turned to look where Gloria was pointing. Indeed, as strange as it looked, there stood a roadrunner in the middle of their living room.**

**"What the…" Charles exclaimed, jumping out of his chair. "How the heck did you get in here?"**

**Glancing at the open door to the garage, Charles knew. "You need to get back out of here before you mess up the carpet or something. The house is no place for you, guy. Shoo!"**

**As he attempted to shoo the bird back toward the open door to the garage, the bird did something that Charles Whitman never expected. It suddenly expanded and rose straight up, like Jack's beanstalk, changing from a bird into a man before his eyes.**

**"Rahn!" both Charles and Gloria exclaimed at the same time, recognizing their unexpected visitor.**

**"Rahn what in the world are you doing here," Gloria managed to ask, finally finding her voice again.**

**"Hello." Rahn replied shyly… almost apologetically. "Max and Michael would like for you to be present at a meeting tonight at midnight on the ship to determine what is going to happen to all of them. If you can be there, you should be ready at 11:00 precisely here in your home. It doesn't matter where in the house, but be ready and have your transport pins on you or in your hands. Someone will transport you up to the ship at exactly 11:00. Will you come?"**

**Gloria looked at Charles, and Charles shrugged. "Well… yeah, sure, I guess so. If they think it's important, I guess it must be. So I guess we'll be ready for them… when they come. It's got something to do with Alex, too, doesn't it? I mean… what's going to happen to Alex… depends on what they decide in this meeting…?"**

**Rahn nodded. "I don't know what will be discussed at the meeting, but I believe you are probably correct."**

**Charles nodded slowly. "We'll be ready, Rahn. Tell them we'll be there."**

**Rahn smiled understandingly then reverted to a roadrunner as they watched. It happened so fast that neither Charles nor Gloria was really sure exactly how it had occurred. Both of them saw it, but like a scene that one has to rewind and watch over and over to try to understand, Rahn's sudden transformation left them baffled. The roadrunner promptly ran out the door into the garage, ran under the garage door, then took to the air.**

**----------**

**"Damn! I missed him again!" **

**The not-yet-thirty but clearly exercise-challenged and overweight longhaired man swung the broom again; and yet again, the bird nimbly leapt over the broom as the broom came down with a whack on the floor. Puffing from exertion, the exhausted man fell back into a nearby armchair, as another man nearby laughed hysterically and shook his head, apparently enjoying the spectacle.**

**"You'll never get that bird, Jennings. He's too quick for you."**

**Jennings held the broom out at arm's length toward the other man.**

**"Here, you get him then."**

**"Maybe I will, Van. Just watch. You'll see how it's done." **

**The other man, who was fiftyish but in decidedly better shape than his younger colleague, took the broom and walked forward toward the roadrunner. The roadrunner watched the approaching man warily but seemed surprisingly unconcerned by his approach.**

**The older man sauntered over to the side a bit, acting nonchalant but intending to corner the bird and back it into a niche that it could not move around in freely, thus limiting its ability to escape when he brought the broom down. Believing that he had the bird in the right place, Bob Stern raised the broom slowly, still pretending not to look at the roadrunner. Then he turned and swung the broom suddenly.**

**It was to no avail. The roadrunner hopped over the flying broom as though it were all a game. Van Jennings, lying sprawled in the armchair, smiled and chuckled.**

**"Way to go, Bob! You really showed him who's who!"**

**Stern grimaced. "I'll get him, though, Van. No stupid bird's gonna make an ass out of me!"**

**Jennings made a weak braying sound and chuckled. Stern ignored his colleague's oblique barb but clearly seemed to bristle. Bringing the broom down three times in swift succession, Stern succeeded only in getting the roadrunner to hop, duck, and hop again. The broom never even came close to striking the nimble bird. Stern stopped and leaned on the broom for a moment then picked it up and began swinging wildly as though he expected to catch the bird in the air and bat it out the window on the other side of the room. The roadrunner ran from one side of the room to the other, jumping over the broom several times but never getting hit. Stern was beginning to tire when the door to the room beside them opened and a lady looked in…**

**"What the dickens is going on in here guys? It sounds like you're beating each other up!"**

**Sprawled over his chair, Jennings smiled and waved dismissively toward Stern.**

**"Bob's trying to catch a roadrunner that got into the studio somehow. He's not having much luck."**

**"Oh, and I guess you did better, Mister 'I'm-having-a-heart-attack, I've-got-to-sit-down! Wheeze! Cough!'"**

**"What roadrunner?" the lady asked, opening the door all the way.**

**"This one," Stern said, unexpectedly turning suddenly and taking another swat at the long-legged bird. The roadrunner easily avoided the broom again, but this time it leapt right into the arms of the lady who had just entered. She appeared startled but managed to maintain her composure, looking first at the bird on her arm then at her two colleagues.**

**"Well, I'll be danged! Looks like he likes you, Diane."**

**"Yeah… I think so, Bob," the lady agreed.**

**"Hold him there, Diane, and I'll grab him."**

**Diane turned to the side, ignoring Stern's advance. "Leave him alone, Bob. He came to me. I'll take care of him."**

**"Pshhhhhhhh…" Bob sighed, letting the air out of his lungs dejectedly. "Alright. Throw him outside… or put him in a cage or something if you want to keep him. We can't have a roadrunner running around in the station distracting everyone."**

**"I'll worry about that, guys. I don't think the boss will mind. You guys can help me by getting the ads all scheduled for next week if you haven't done that yet. "**

**Stern and Jennings looked at each other and shrugged. They knew that Diane was right. The boss would not question anything she did. Diane had the closest thing to "star status" that the station had ever known. Stern walked out of the room, and Jennings managed to push himself out of his chair and follow.**

**"Alright," Stern said. "We'll leave you alone with your bird." **

**Jennings snickered, as Stern closed the door behind them. Diane checked the door then looked around the room. She opened the back door to make it appear that she had gone outside with the bird… just in case anyone came back in to check, but instead, she opened a closet door and stepped inside, closing the door back behind her. **

**Diane looked at the roadrunner sitting calmly on her arm.**

**"Okay, you'd better be what I think you may be or I'm going to feel really foolish bringing you in here."**

**The bird hopped onto the floor and transformed into a man in front of her. Diane gasped, less from the shock of the sudden transformation than from the sudden reduction in space inside the tiny closet. She found herself face to face, literally, with Rahn. Blushing a bit, Diane stammered, trying to figure out what to say to the man standing right against her in a closet that was now too small to even move in. She felt like they should be dancing… or hugging… anything but talking. **

**"Rahn, what are you doing here? I'm happy to see you, believe me. I'm just a bit taken aback by the… the unexpected closeness. You could have been killed showing up here like this!"**

**"Not by those guys," Rahn said confidently. "They couldn't catch me even if they had me in a cage."**

**"Well, you may be right about that," Diane conceded, with a smile that Rahn probably couldn't see in the darkness of the closet. "But what ARE you doing here, Rahn?"**

**"I came to ask you to come to the ship tonight at midnight. Max and Michael are having a meeting to discuss their future here, and your presence is needed. Dan Klein should come, too, if you know where we can find him."**

**"I think so," Diane said uncertainly. "What… where do I go to get on the ship?"**

**"Max will bring the ship to you… at your house. You should be ready at 11:10, with your transport pin on you. Someone will transport you up to the ship from your home. It won't matter where you are in the house."**

**Diane nodded. "It must be pretty important… to be so sudden."**

**"Yes," Rahn agreed. "It is important. The future will be determined tonight… their future… our future… maybe your future, in a way."**

**Diane nodded again. "I'll get in touch with Dan. Do you want him to be at my house, too, when you come for me?"**

**"That would be good," Rahn said. **

**"I'll be there," Diane said. "Dan will, too… I think."**

**"Good."**

**"Rahn?"**

**"Yes?"**

**"How are we going to get out of this closet? I can't move."**

**"I'll fix that," Rahn said, grinning slightly to himself in the darkness. "Goodbye, Diane… till tonight. Thanks for protecting me from those two guys."**

**Diane smiled. "Protecting YOU, Rahn? I was protecting THEM. I thought they were going to have heart attacks from the exertion. You shouldn't tease them like that."**

**Rahn laughed then transformed back into a roadrunner. Diane opened the door and peeked out of the closet then quickly walked to the back door with Rahn on her arm. She held her arm up in the air, and Rahn spread his wings and leapt into the air. **

**"Dan and I'll see you tonight, Rahn," Diane whispered, as the bird disappeared into the distance.**

**----------**

**At the army base, General David Strickland had just left his office, the office that had once belonged to General Hawkins. As he walked down the hall in the underground bunker, a roadrunner flew overhead. The lieutenant beside him noticed the bird…**

**"We probably ought to close off the entrances to the bunkers better. We keep getting bats and birds in here. It's a good thing they can't tell anyone what they've seen, huh?"**

**Strickland smiled. "Well, we can't close it up that tightly, Anson. We're underground. We need the air circulation. I guess the birds and the bats are just something we'll have to put up with. They seem to know how to get back out anyway. So far they haven't been a problem."**

**"No sir. That's true," Lieutenant Anson replied. **

**General Strickland stopped and thought for a moment. "Anson… was that a roadrunner?"**

**"It looked like one, sir. I'm not sure, though. It flies pretty well to be a roadrunner."**

**Strickland nodded. "Yeah, you're probably right. You know, Anson, I think I forgot something in my office. You go on ahead. I'll catch up with you later."**

**Anson turned and politely saluted the General then walked off. General Strickland watched as Anson rounded the corner, then he turned around and walked back toward his office. As he put his key in the door and turned it, Strickland sensed a presence beside him. Turning quickly, he found himself looking at Rahn, whom he recognized from the ship.**

**"Where did you come from?"**

**Rahn smiled. "It's a bit hard to explain. I have a message for you."**

**Strickland nodded. "The roadrunner that I saw in the hall… That was you, wasn't it?"**

**Rahn appeared flustered and momentarily unsure what he should say. He had never revealed his shape-shifting ability to Strickland. He had never even revealed his ability to his captors in all the years he had been held on the base before he had escaped… before Strickland had become a general.**

**"It's okay, Rahn. I'll keep your secret. I probably know better than you what would happen to you if it got out. I heard rumors about a special roadrunner. I've got lines of communication. Some of them keep track of miscreants like Judge Lewis. He's been telling everybody that some of the aliens can change into other things… like snakes or roadrunners. But no one trusts Judge Lewis anymore. I store all these little tidbits and details up here…" Strickland pointed at his head. "for future reference… if needed. Sometimes even the rantings of a madman can turn out to have relevance… if one is open to seeing it."**

**Rahn nodded. "I should have guessed that Judge Lewis would figure it out. Do you think anyone else will believe him?"**

**Strickland shook his head. "No. We've pretty much told the press and everyone that anything the judge says can be considered for its source. He's untrustworthy. And his experience in the desert has left him… um… let's say, susceptible to hallucinations and imagined happenings. It's not really to protect you that we don't want anyone believing the judge, Rahn. It's because he has too much classified knowledge… things we don't want anyone else knowing. Judge Lewis had sources, including Culpepper and others, and he was fairly good at storing every little bit of information he heard –intentionally or on the sly- in his head."**

**"You seem to be pretty good at that yourself," Rahn said.**

**David Strickland smiled. "There are things that can be learned… even from a cretin."**

**"I'm glad you're on our side," Rahn replied, smiling. "You'll be a very good general."**

**Strickland smiled. "It's a challenge. But I'm giving it my best. What did you want to tell me, Rahn?"**

**"There is going to be a meeting on the ship tonight… at midnight. Max and Michael want you to be there, because you are our friend. They need to decide some things about our futures and the futures of the others here."**

**Strickland raised his eyebrows. "The others meaning… Max Evans… Isabel Evans… Michael Guerin… Angie Lee?" **

**Rahn nodded. **

**"And does that also include Elizabeth Parker, Maria DeLuca, Alex Whitman… and the sheriff's son, Kyle Valenti," Strickland asked.**

**"It may," Rahn said. "I don't know for sure, but I suspect so."**

**Strickland nodded. "And the sheriff and his wife, Amy…"**

**"Probably," Rahn replied. "We are all at a crossroads right now. There are things happening that have made it necessary for us to have this meeting… to make decisions."**

**Strickland nodded again. "Maybe more than you know, Rahn. Like I told you, I have lines of communication, and I store every little detail up here." Strickland pointed at his head again. "I'm not sure about this information yet, but I've heard some very troubling rumors from a couple of my sources recently. I wasn't going to say anything until I had confirmed it and knew more of the details, but you should know what I know. It's only an unconfirmed rumor right now, understand, but a couple of very good sources have told me that the 9th Circuit Court, in San Francisco… that's California… has been meeting in secret the last few days. They cover much of this area of the country, including Arizona and most of the west coast. If my sources are right, the purpose of these meetings was to decide how to 'best allocate an indispensable resource currently located in the area of Roswell, New Mexico.'"**

**"What… exactly… does that mean," Rahn asked.**

**"Well, it could mean a lot of things," Strickland replied. "Or maybe nothing at all. But I have a dreadful feeling that it does not bode well for you… and especially for Max… the one who can heal."**

**Rahn paled. "Would they harm Max?"**

**Strickland shook his head. "I don't think that's their intention. I suspect that the 9th Circuit Court has decided that it has the responsibility for determining who Max heals and when he heals them. If this is the case, it could mean that Max would become essentially… a slave… a permanent ward of the court… controlled by them… no longer free to make decisions about things like… leaving. You see what I'm saying?"**

**Rahn nodded. "They're afraid we'll leave and take Max with us… both Maxes. They want to make sure that does not happen. And they want to control who is eligible to be healed and let the court… themselves… determine the priorities."**

**"That's what I believe, Rahn. I told you, it's all only guesswork and rumor right now… I could be wrong."**

**"But you are very good at piecing puzzles together, David Strickland. If you think this might happen… it is enough for us to be concerned about it. Max will want to know. Michael needs to know, too. It should be discussed at the meeting tonight. Can a court in San Francisco do this?"**

**"That is not clear, Rahn. The state of New Mexico is in the 10th Circuit Court's jurisdiction, not the 9th, although some of our neighboring states, like Arizona, are in the 9th; but there is some indication that the 9th Circuit Court may believe that it can obtain legal jurisdiction over the ship and its occupants in some other manner. I thought you would want to know." **

**"Take this transport chip pin, David Strickland. Keep it on you somewhere. At 10:30 tonight, the ship will pick you up. The transporter will recognize the chip in the pin."**

**"I've used it before," Strickland said, turning the pin over in his hand. Do you want me to be here… in my office?"**

**"You tell me where it would be best to find you," Rahn said. "That is where we will go."**

**Strickland nodded. "It might be best if it were somewhere else. This area is too protected… and too watched."**

**"I suspected that," Rahn said.**

**"Can you pick me up from my home?"**

**Rahn nodded. "That will not be a problem."**

**"23 Benwood Aircraft Circle. It's three miles north of the base just outside Roswell. From the air, you can easily spot Benwood Aircraft Circle. It has a small airstrip through the center of it. A lot of our residents have private planes. My house is on the east side of the strip, second house from the north end of the runway. Can you remember that?"**

**"Of course."**

**"Good. I'll see you at 10:30 then, Rahn."**

**"Thank you," Rahn said. He looked at Strickland for a moment then decided that David Strickland could be trusted completely. Without any warning, Rahn shrank suddenly, becoming a roadrunner once again. David swallowed, and his eyes opened a bit wider.**

**"Amazing. I wish we had more time to get to know each other, Rahn," he whispered, leaning over and offering the bird his hand. The roadrunner hopped onto Strickland's outstretched index finger, then Strickland raised his hand into the air… and Rahn flew away.**

**tbc**

**Coming Up: Part 2 – Decisions**


	45. Dreams44

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Midnight Pow-Wow**

**Part 2 – Decisions**

**Chapter 44**

**XLIV******

**The midnight sky over Roswell twinkled with hundreds of thousands of stars, most of them visible on this clear dark night from the New Granolith's lofty position in the sky, and the view through the ship's observatory dome was striking. The observatory of the New Granolith comprised most of the uppermost level of the ship, and the clear, one-way view dome that covered it allowed anyone inside this level to watch the stars and planets go by while the ship was traveling through space. On this night, however, the only visible movement of the stars was their incessant twinkling in the midnight sky. It was a sight that every person present had spent some time appreciating already; but now, with the meeting about to start, it became a peaceful… and strangely appropriate… backdrop.**

**There was plenty of room in the observatory. Even with everyone present and with the large table that had been brought in for the special meeting, it was not at all crowded. The large, oversized Antarian sofa that Michael and Maria so loved still sat against the back wall. On another side of the room there were a couple of special seats with various long-rang vision devices through which one could view the distant heavens in comfort. But one needed only to look up… or in almost any other direction… to see the skies through the huge dome that covered most of the level above and all around the observatory. It felt a bit like sitting on a large, mostly exposed, platform in the sky… until the lights were turned up inside, giving some sense of enclosure to the meeting's participants.**

**"This meeting is opened," Max stated simply, bringing the meeting to order. Everyone turned to look at Max, anxious to hear what he had to say.**

**Max looked around the table. All those invited appeared to be present. Directly to Max's right, at the head of the table, sat Michael and Gray Hawk. Liz and Rahn sat on Max's left. Along the left side of the table, Max saw his and Liz's younger doubles with Jeff and Nancy Parker, her parents. Beside the Parkers were the younger Michael and Maria with Maria's mom, Amy, and her new husband, Sheriff Jim Valenti, followed by Kyle Valenti, Phillip and Diane Evans, Isabel, Alex, then Alex's parents, Charles and Gloria Whitman. At the far end of the table were Diane Casey, Dan Klein, and General David Strickland. Beside David Strickland sat a guest, one still referred to by most of the crew simply as "Eagle One," since he and Dan Klein had led two squadrons of fighter jets to secure the reservation when it had been under attack. Moving back around to the right side of the table, Max saw Jim from Antar sitting across from his younger double. River Dog sat on Jim's right with Tess, Tess' husband, Rayylar, and Angie Lee. To Jim's left were the rest of Max's crewmates, Isabel, Alex, Maria, and Varec.**

**Seeing that everyone was present, Max smiled and continued… "I called this meeting because we have recently encountered a few problematic situations. It's nothing that we can't handle, of course… if we're prepared for whatever may come and we stick together…" **

**Michael nodded silently but rolled his eyes a bit. Max ignored Michael's not-too-subtle visual attempt to tell him that he was already forgetting his agreement not to "candy-coat" or underestimate the dangers they might be facing. But both knew that there were important decisions to be made tonight… decisions that would likely affect the lives of all those present, not just the "aliens" in the group.**

**"As everyone here probably knows by now," Max continued, "Max… your Max, that is… and I… have been spending a great many hours each day healing sick and injured people at the hospital in Roswell. Up till now, we've only had to heal local people and those who came to us, but the word has been spreading around the country and… I suspect… the world, and we know that if we don't prepare now or if we don't find a way to avoid what we think is coming, we may find ourselves in over our heads."**

**"I have a suggestion," Dan Klein said.**

**Max nodded toward Dan. "Go ahead, Dan. What is it?"**

**"We can put out the word that your powers to heal people have been depleted. You know… tell the press that your powers have been all used up… You can't even get a kink out of a muscle anymore. If the press spreads the word…"**

**"They won't buy it," Michael said with certainty. "People would want to see it for themselves. The press would want us to prove it. Even then… people would always suspect that we had lied to them, and Max would be accused of being self-centered and unconcerned about others if it ever came out that it really was a lie."**

**Dan shrugged. "Yeah… you're probably right." **

**"Hey! I didn't say it was a bad idea, though," Michael replied quickly. "I'm thinking about it… with a few little adjustments. But we have to be realistic. People are going to be suspicious of our motives and suspect that they're being lied to if we say something like that."**

**"Maybe you could say that their powers are getting progressively and permanently weaker every time they heal so many people without resting for several days in between," Maria suggested. "I mean… if you convince people that Max may lose his powers totally if they continue to abuse the two of them, people won't want their powers to go away, so maybe they'll give them a break, you know…"**

**"Hmm… in other words, we kind of tell people that they're killing the goose that laid the golden egg," Michael mused.**

**"Yeah. That's sort of it," Maria agreed. **

**"Might work… it's an angle. Max?"**

**Max shrugged. "It might come down to that. I don't like having to lie about it, though."**

**"You wouldn't really be lying, Max," Michael retorted. "Not much anyway. I mean, face it, if the problem keeps growing at the rate it has been, they really are going to kill the goose that… the goose that heals them."**

**Max smiled.**

**"You think that's funny?" Michael asked.**

**Max shook his head. "I was just picturing that imagery… You know, a goose… healing people."**

**"Well, you can't lay golden eggs, Max," Michael said with a touch of exasperation. "…Unless you've been keeping something from me."**

**There was a low round of laughter around the table. Max reddened slightly and smiled sheepishly. "You're right, Michael. I didn't mean to make light of it."**

**"I know," Michael conceded, then he turned again to the group around the table. "The problem, as Max and I see it, is that now that everyone knows what Max can do, they're going to expect him to do it… and if he doesn't, we're not going to be welcome here anymore… any of us. That goes for our doubles, too, especially his, and they have to live here. This is their home."**

**"Maybe," Max replied quietly. "Maybe not."**

**Michael nodded solemnly. "Right. That brings us to the other thing we discussed… if it comes to it."**

**Max took a deep breath and looked around the table again at each one there. "We have discussed it among some of us, and we feel that the time is coming… very soon, I fear… when staying here may not be an option. I'm talking about for some of those who live here, not for me or my crew. We will be going back to Antar in our dimension soon either way. But my double here… and maybe some of the others… have to make some important decisions tonight. This is very sudden, I know, but it's not as rash as it may seem. Just tonight, we learned that a circuit court in San Francisco may be planning to place my double and me under some kind of court restriction where the court would decide who we heal and when… and we think this would mean that we would also not be free to leave the court's jurisdiction without the court's permission."**

**"In other words, EVER," Diane Casey said, bristling with indignation. "If that happened, you'd be a virtual slave, Max… both of you. Are you sure of this information? San Francisco… that's the 9th Circuit Court. They don't have jurisdiction in Roswell. New Mexico is in the 10th Circuit Court's jurisdiction."**

**"It comes from some very reliable sources," General David Strickland said, responding to Diane. "I have personal, uh, sources close to the court. Over the past three days, the court has been meeting in secret to decide what they have termed, 'how to best allocate an indispensable and unique resource currently located in the vicinity of Roswell, New Mexico.' What does that mean to you?"**

**Diane frowned and thought about it for several moments. "Probably the same thing it means to you. But… how do they expect to get away with it? We're not in their jurisdiction here."**

**"I don't know that," General Strickland said, shaking his head. "But the sources were quite convinced of the court's intent. Maybe there is someone else here, though, who may have more answers for us." David looked straight at Eagle One, and the "guest" nodded slowly.**

**"It hasn't been officially published by the court, General. There's nothing that I can do about it until the court makes some kind of official adjudication… or at least admits it. I have heard the rumor, but the 9th denies it."**

**"Then, it's not so?" David Strickland asked.**

**"I didn't say that," Eagle One replied. "It's probably a denial of convenience."**

**"In other words, a bald-faced lie," Diane Casey retorted angrily.**

**Eagle One smiled. "Well, yes… and no. The denial could be based on the phrasing of the question as it was put to them by my staff. Courts and lawyers, you know. Anyway, if any detail of the question they were asked was slightly wrong, the court would simply issue a blanket denial of the entire question. What I can tell you is that I've been watching them closely, and when they do tip their hand, I'll be on it."**

**"But can you do anything about it," Liz asked. "I mean, with all due respect to you, Sir, I know a little bit about poli' science and sociology and how these things work here. I graduated from high school here in Roswell… Well, okay, not HERE… but in Roswell… in a different dimension, but I think it's pretty much the same. I got an 'A' in Political Science."**

**"You got an 'A' in everything," Maria interjected. **

**Liz blushed slightly, but Eagle One smiled and seemed impressed.**

**"She's right. I cannot simply overrule the courts… though there are a few things that I can trump them on. I won't know about this case until they decide to spring their 'decision.' But I've had my legal experts researching it already, and I am quite sure that legally there is no precedent for such an action and little likelihood of succeeding if a court without jurisdiction attempts to circumvent a court with jurisdiction. It's rather complicated, but jurisdiction is important here."**

**"I imagine that's why they've been discussing it for three days," Dan Klein said. "They're trying to find a way to stick a decision outside their jurisdiction. Maybe the 10th Circuit Court is in on it with them."**

**Eagle One shook his head. "I had that checked out, too. I can't be a hundred percent sure, but it doesn't appear that they are."**

**"How else could they hope to make it stick?" Dan asked. "We need to ask ourselves that. When we find the answer to that, we'll probably know what they're up to."**

**"Or…" Michael said. "We could just leave… now… today… or tomorrow at the latest… without saying anything… with both Maxes onboard. Then there'll be nothing for them to decide."**

**Diane Evans gasped, and her hand went automatically over her mouth. "Max? Leave…? And go where? Where would he go?"**

**She knew that the answer would not please her. Wherever the New Granolith was going, it would be taking her son away from her if he went along. But Diane was also aware of the problems Max was facing because of his ability to heal others, and she knew that it was getting worse, not better. Something WAS going to have to be done… soon.**

**"Does he… Does he have to go away… to some other… you know…?" Diane couldn't quite bring herself to say it. "Can't you find a way to fix the problem and let him stay here?"**

**"We're not going to take him away against his wishes, Mrs. Evans," Michael said, shaking his head. "If it comes to it… and right now it's only on the table for discussion, because we're just looking for options, not saying that it has been determined already… it will have to be his decision to make. And you will have to help him make the right decision."**

**"Don't say that. I can't ask him to go away and… leave us."**

**"Running away isn't an answer," Phillip said, agreeing with his wife. "We've always taught our children not to seek out trouble or invite it but not to run away from it either. They can come to us. We're here for them. In the end, they have to stand on their own two feet, but you can't just turn and run from your troubles. You have to face them… defeat them. Only then can you be free of them."**

**"I'm sure that Max and Isabel know that they can come to you for anything, Mr. Evans," Michael replied. "But… were you able to help them on graduation night?"**

**Phillip choked up, and Diane began to cry softly. Both of them felt like a dagger had just been run through their hearts, as memories of Max and Isabel being shot dead by commandoes at their graduation came flooding back into their minds… and with those awful memories, came the feelings of utter, horrible despair that had overcome them at not having been able to save their children or help them in any way.**

**"I'm… I'm sorry," Michael said with heartfelt sincerity, feeling a lump coming up in his throat. "I'm not implying that you ever didn't do your best to keep them safe. I'm saying that you really did… and it just didn't matter. There are things that this world is just not ready for. Your son… and Isabel… aren't truly of this world. None of us are. Everyone knows it now. I'm not saying that Max and Isabel have to run away… yet. I'm looking for options. But we have to keep that option open, too. It's… well… looking more and more like the best option… for several reasons."**

**"I'm a lawyer, Michael," Phillip said sternly. "If a court… anywhere… tries to put restrictions on my children… because of what they are… I'll take them to… take them to…"**

**"Court?"**

**"Court… yeah." Phillip ran the back of his hand over his eyes then put his arm around Diane and pulled her to him.**

**As everyone else sat in total silence, Max picked up the conversation again.**

**"Michael… and I… will be leaving here soon with the rest of our crew. We haven't decided yet to take anyone from here with us when we go. We're exploring all the options available, and that is one option that is available. As Michael said, it would have to be Max's decision… if he decides to go with us. In any case, these things need to be decided in this meeting… tonight. Once we are gone… there will be nowhere for Max… or Isabel… or anyone else here… to turn to. You will have to defend yourselves or be at the mercy of millions of possibly misguided people… and maybe even the courts… if it comes to that."**

**"And there is another matter to discuss," Michael said softly. "Nasedo."**

**Max nodded. "Right. Nasedo is a shape-shifter… He's dangerous. We can't leave him here. We need to take him back to Antar, in this dimension, where he can be handled properly by others of his kind."**

**"Not all shape-shifters are dangerous," Rahn interjected defensively. "Most of us are good."**

**Max nodded again. "Rahn is right. And it just illustrates the problems we face here. People are afraid of anything that they can't control or don't understand. I didn't mean to imply that all shape-shifters are dangerous just now, but the language I used did just that. If we can't control our own fears… if we let them come out… even accidentally in such little ways… how can we expect a whole planet of… earth people to stay calm and reasonable. The trouble is, it doesn't take a lot of people, only a few people with illogical fears, to cause a great catastrophe. The men who shot some of you at graduation here were only a handful of people who did not represent the majority, but the result was still disastrous. It's a hard lesson… one that we learned, too."**

**"But do you always run from your problems, Max?" Phillip asked. "Isn't there danger on your planet? What do you do when there's danger there? What did you do with that guy, what was his name… K… Ki…?"**

**"Kivar," Diane offered for him.**

**"Yeah… Kivar. Did you run from him? Or did you face him and win your planet back… in your own dimension?"**

**"You've found out a lot about us," Max said, a bit surprised at the extent of Phillip's knowledge of a subject that Max had never really talked about to anyone here.**

**"I told you… I'm a lawyer. I have a way of… snooping… getting little details."**

**There were a few chuckles around the table, and Phillip smiled just a bit.**

**Max nodded. "We talk when we don't realize it. Little things that we say…"**

**"…can be pieced together… if someone is really listening," Phillip said, finishing Max's thought for him.**

**"Yeah, exactly," Max conceded. "You're my father alright."**

**Again there was a chuckle heard around the table.**

**"Well… anyway, you're a lot like my father… in my dimension. He could hear a few words and put together a whole plot from them, too. And he occasionally got it right. It made being a teenager kind of nerve-wracking… sometimes." Max smiled, letting Phillip know that he meant this in a light-hearted way. Then he became serious again…**

**"We can face danger when there is a reason to… and a need. It was necessary to face danger to take back our planet… to return the rightful king to the throne… and to save my people from Kivar. But is it really necessary to stay here on earth… if there is a reasonable alternative? It's not even our planet… not really. Rahn found out from Nasedo that Antar, in this dimension, is no longer ruled by Kivar. He was killed by one of his slaves, and random factions that cannot seem to get together dominate the planet at the present time. The return of their king now could make all the difference. If Max and Michael here have the same feelings of destiny and calling that Michael and I had that led us to return to our planet and defeat Kivar, they may never have a better chance to reestablish their rightful place on Antar than now. We can't decide this for them, though. They will have to do that themselves. Stay… or go. It's in their hands." Max turned and faced the younger Max and Michael. "…Your hands."**

**"Go," the younger Max said quietly. Michael nodded emphatically… "Go."**

**Max smiled. He knew what their decisions would be before he ever asked. This Max and Michael were a little younger, and they lived in a different dimension, but they were still Max and Michael. Max never had any doubt what their answer would be. Neither did Michael… especially since they had gotten to know them. The two pairs were far more alike than different… in almost every respect. Max and Michael knew that this meeting was really about giving their doubles the opportunity to make the decision to return and retake their planet. All the problems they faced here on earth were only secondary. Even the court, if it was indeed plotting something sinister, could not have actually forced them to leave earth. But retaking their rightful place on their own planet was something deeper. It was a calling. Max and Michael had felt it once themselves. They had every reason to believe that their doubles felt it, too.**

**From the start, Gray Hawk had understood what this meeting was about, and he had kept silent and watched how it played out. He had been there when the ship had crashed on that day in 1947. He had seen the aliens and their urgency… the urgency to save their royal family… and their planet. He had no doubt that that urgency was still there… somewhere… in these two young men… the fruit of the aliens' efforts that day. And as much as he did not want to think about it, he suspected it might be in Angie Lee, too. But he wasn't sure.**

**"Max?" Diane whispered softly, her voice breaking. "Where would you go? Would we ever see you again?" **

**Max laid his hand on top of his mother's hand and then squeezed it comfortingly. "I don't know… I… I hope so… I just don't know. But we have to do this, Mom. It's something that I can't explain. It's… our destiny." Michael nodded in agreement. Max turned back around to look at Liz, and the look on her face struck his heart with all the force and effect of an exploding supernova. His heart almost stopped… until by sheer force he willed it to beat again. He realized quickly that this was going to be harder. Liz. How could he leave Liz… after all they had been through together? Liz. Liz whom he had carried when she was paralyzed… danced ecstatically with, lost in emotion, in Gray Hawk's home after Rahn had healed her… shared his feelings, his hopes, his love, HIS LIFE with… all but promised to marry. Liz. For the first time, since his Antarian double mentioned the possibility of taking him to Antar, Max faltered. **

**"I… I can't…" **

**Max reached out to Liz, and she took his hands. The look on her face, in her eyes, in her whole being screamed, "STAY," but her voice betrayed her.**

**"You have to go, Max. It's what you've always wanted. It's what you were always meant to do. You don't have a choice. You're the king of… of all those people. You heard what he said. Without you, they're fractured. They need you and Michael… even if Kivar is gone… maybe even more now that he's gone. Without you… without you… they… Without you…" Liz choked up in spite of her most noble intentions… "Without you… I… I can't…" **

**Max put his arms around Liz and pulled her to him, holding her close in his embrace… close to his heart.**

**"I won't leave you, Liz… if that's the choice…"**

**Liz buried her face against Max's chest then reached up and kissed him gently…**

**"Go, Max."**

**"But…"**

**Liz put one finger over Max's lips. "Go. I'll go with you."**

**Max sat there, momentarily speechless, then the truth struck him… This is what was meant to be. His double was married to Liz in their dimension… and they lived together on Antar. Their children were born on Antar. Their home… was Antar. Max looked at Liz, and a new feeling of profound love filled his heart almost to overflowing.**

**Michael watched as Max and Liz cemented their decision together then swallowed hard and looked at Maria.**

**"Hey, E.T., you don't think I'm letting Liz take the vacation of a lifetime while I stay here, do you?"**

**Michael smiled, his mind a confused jumble of caution and concern and yet, oddly, somehow, relief.**

**"Besides…" Maria said, "I've kind of gotten attached to you. I think I might actually like you… just a little bit…"**

**Michael nodded, understanding Maria completely, then he leaned over and kissed her on the lips. As they separated, a few moments later, he looked at her with that endearing lopsided smile…**

**"Whatever I did to deserve you, it must have been really something." **

**"It was," Maria said. "You let me into your heart. I don't think you ever did that with anyone else before."**

**Michael shook his head. "No, I didn't. Only Max… and Isabel. We had to stick together. But no one else. No one else ever… till you."**

**Maria smiled and kissed Michael again.**

**Max looked at Isabel, who was clutching their mother tightly by the arm without realizing it.**

**"Max… don't. Don't ask me that. How can I leave everything I've ever known… everyone I've ever loved. Mom and Dad are… are all I've got!"**

**"You've got Max," Max said, referring to his younger double. "And Michael."**

**"I don't want to have to choose… not between them or Mom and Dad," Isabel said.**

**"I'm sorry," Max whispered almost inaudibly, "but you are going to have to make a choice… to be with one or the other. If they go… and you stay… you'll be alone here. I mean, you'll still have Mom and Dad, but Max and Michael… will be gone. They won't be there to help you if you need them."**

**"I… I'll get by… with Mom and Dad… and my friends. I've got Alex… and Maria…"**

**Isabel stopped suddenly, as it dawned on her that she might not have Maria anymore. Maria had just said that she was going wherever Michael went. Isabel swallowed. That would hurt. She couldn't believe that she felt this way about anyone, but she did. The time she and Maria had spent just trying to survive together in the caves had changed something in Isabel. Maria had saved her life. They had been close… like sisters… almost like twins. They had depended on each other… totally… for survival… and for comfort… for so long. Losing Maria now would hurt… a lot. But she had Alex, and she had her parents. As long as she had them she would be okay in the end. Of this she was certain. **

**"I have to stay, Max. Mom and Dad need me. And there's Alex… I… I…"**

**Max nodded. "Okay. Just think about it for now. If that's your decision, we won't try to make you to change it. But be certain that it's the right decision, because after we're gone… you know…"**

**Isabel nodded, holding her mother's arm on one side and Alex's on the other, attempting to convince herself that she didn't want anything more. Being alone with Alex had always been enough for Isabel. As long as she had him… and the stars above… she could find happiness anywhere… anywhere… at all…**

**Isabel turned to Alex, and her lips moved, but nothing came out. She looked up at the thousands of visible stars through the dome above them. Alex looked up with her…**

**"Which one do you think it is, Iz?"  
  
Isabel shook her head. "I don't think you can see it from here, Alex. It's too far away."**

**Alex nodded, reading Isabel's feelings like an open book. "How long do you think it'll take us to get there?"**

**Isabel looked at Alex and shook her head. "I don't really know." Then she laid her head against him, and he put his arms around her, cradling her head against his chest with one hand.**

**"Maria?" Amy said, her voice shaking, betraying her feelings, "You can't just run off to God knows where… some other planet… some other galaxy. You're still just a child, honey!"**

**"I'm not a child, Mama. I'm out of high school already. I've been through more than most people go through in ten life times already. This is something I have to do, Mom. I want to be with Michael. Besides, when you were my age…"**

**"You'll be leaving me," Amy cried.**

**"Mom," Maria scolded. "Turn off the tears. I know you. I learned it from you, remember?"**

**"They're not fake," Amy said, wiping her eyes and showing Maria the teardrops on her hand.**

**Maria hugged Amy. "I know they're not, Mom. But you'll survive. You're a survivor. Besides, maybe we can come back to see you someday. Max and Michael have this big spaceship in their dimension… my Michael and our Max can get a big spaceship, too. Max is the king."**

**"Oh, I know that," Amy conceded, shaking her head. "But I don't want to see you go away so far. Couldn't you just go to Texas or somewhere first? Somewhere where I don't need a spaceship to come see you? I don't think my Jetta will make it to Antar."**

**"Maybe Isabel can give it some of her special mojo, Mom. She's good at that. Trust me! You should have seen what she did to your car before!"**

**Amy smiled. "If it's all the same, I think I'll wait for the spaceship." **

**"Good choice, Mom."**

**"Or…" Amy's eyes got suddenly brighter. "Jim and I could come with you!"**

**Jim's mouth fell open, and he looked at Amy. "Oh, no! I'm just getting earth used to having me around. I wasn't cut out for space travel."**

**"Your double said that, too," Max noted. "But now he lives on Antar and considers it his home."**

**"All the same," Jim said. "I like to keep my feet on solid ground."**

**"You mean like right now?" Michael asked.**

**"Yeah." Jim thought about it a moment and realized that he was several thousand feet in the sky at this moment… inside a spaceship.**

**"Okay, but that's still the earth down there under me."**

**The younger Max smiled and joined the conversation. "Actually, it would probably be better if all the parents stayed here for now… on earth. We don't know exactly what we're going to find on Antar when we get there. After everything is running the way it should be, I should be able to send a ship back for anyone else who wants to come at that time. Or we can just come back to visit… if there's not a problem with the court."**

**"The New Granolith has invisibility capability and other stealth features," Max of Antar said. "Varec can give you the specs, and you can build one of your own if you want. Nobody else needs to know that you're here then if you come back. You'll have to find Varec on your planet and get him to supervise the building of the ship for you. He's the best. I don't know anyone else who can do what he's done with this ship."**

**The younger Max nodded. "That would be great." **

**"Lizzie," Jeff said, putting an arm around his little girl, "Are you sure about this?"**

**Liz smiled and nodded. "I've never been more sure about anything in my life, Dad."**

**Jeff nodded. "I won't stand in your way, then, Lizzie. You belong together. That's not easy for me to say; I want you to know that. But after all you've been through together… you and Max… and the others… I don't think I should stand in your way now. Maybe you could email me occasionally. Do they have Earthlink on Antar?"**

**Liz smiled.**

**"That was Alex's joke," Michael said. Alex asked us that in our dimension when he stayed on earth the first time we left to return to Antar."**

**"I guess things are the same everywhere," Alex mused. "They just get moved around a bit."**

**Tess walked up to Angie Lee and asked her the question that Angie Lee had been expecting.**

**"Are you coming with us? You're from Antar, too. You can return home if you want to."**

**Angie Lee looked up at the sky through the huge observatory dome and sighed, then she looked at Gray Hawk. She smiled and put her arm around Gray Hawk, then shook her head.**

**"I am home, Tess. Grandfather and I are home here."**

**Tess smiled. "Well, no one on earth knows about your powers to create visions and mind warps, and they don't know that you're one of us, so you'll probably be okay."**

**Angie Lee nodded. "I want to finish college, then maybe someday I'll marry a great guy and we can come to Antar for our honeymoon." Angie Lee looked at Kyle, and Kyle smiled.**

**Tess laughed. "You just may be able to do that. But be careful, Angie Lee. You must hide any hint of your powers. No one here must ever know that you are one of us. The dangers for you are too great if they ever find out."**

**"I know," Angie Lee agreed.**

**"Kyle?" Tess said. Kyle understood the question.**

**"I'm staying here."**

**"Why did I just know that?" Tess asked, winking at Angie Lee. "Have fun on Antar on your honeymoon, Kyle… you, too, Angie Lee."**

**Kyle grinned but reddened just a bit and nodded, glancing at Angie Lee, who was smiling even more now that Kyle had confirmed that he was staying, too, and all but confirmed his intentions with regard to Angie Lee.**

**"Well, some things aren't the same," Max said. "In our dimension, Kivar destroyed the earth, and Kyle, Michael, and I were the only ones who escaped and made it to Antar… until we went back to earth's past in the New Granolith and Alex here saved the world with his guitar."**

**Angie Lee looked at Alex and raised her eyebrows. "I'd like to hear how that happened some time."**

**"Maybe sometime I'll tell you," Alex said, grinning.**

**Diane Casey walked up to Max and looked him in the eyes. She started to speak but then thought again about what she would say.**

**"Yes," Max said. It was an answer, not a question.**

**"Yes? Yes, what?"**

**"Yes, Diane, you can go with us. You've always known that you belonged out there somewhere, you just didn't know where until now."**

**Diane appeared stunned. "You can read my mind? I… I didn't know."**

**Max smiled and shook his head. "No. I don't read minds. That's what our Diane in our dimension said to me a long time ago. She and you had different jobs, but other than that, you're like two peas in a pod. I just figured…"**

**"Amazing," Diane said in a stunned voice. "Those were the very words I was going to say."**

**"And some things are the same," Max said.**

**"Max," Varec called out from across the room. "There's a message coming in on the vidscreen."**

**"Turn it on," Max said. Varec turned the large vidscreen on, and everyone sat back down in their seats and looked at the screen. A man came on the screen, but Max didn't recognize him.**

**"Citizens of the planet Antar… greetings."**

**"Thank you," Max said. "What can we do for you?"**

**The man smiled, but Max thought that somehow the smile looked suspiciously… well… smiley.**

**"It's not what you can do for us, Max. You are Max, right?" It's what we can do for you. Is the, uh, the other Max there, too?"**

**"That would be me," the younger Max said, stepping in front of the camera.**

**"Ah, there you are! Yes!"**

**"What are you offering," Max asked. **

**"Well, we are very grateful for all your efforts to help others on our planet… especially by rebuilding the Mesaliko Reservation and, uh, healing all the people that you have healed."  
  
**

**"It was our pleasure," Max said politely.**

**"Well, some of us want you to know that it has not gone unnoticed, and we want to return the favor to you in our own small, humble way."**

**"Thank you," Max said, waiting to hear what the man was going to say.**

**"I want you to look at something. I'm putting a picture online for you to see." The man disappeared, and a picture of a large estate on a river appeared. The house was beautiful… and huge. And the land seemed to go on forever. Max guessed that there were sixty prime acres… many of them on the waterfront.**

**"It's beautiful," Max said.**

**The man reappeared. "It's yours. All you have to do is move in. We thought you might like to have something big enough for all of you to move into. There are thirty bedrooms, thirty baths, and a special guesthouse where someone's parents could live if they wanted more privacy, or you could use it for… whatever. If you like horses, we're going to give you six horses… and a groomsman and stableman to take care of them. As I said, it's all yours, Max! All you have to do is move in! There's even enough land to park your spaceship on."**

**"Where is it," Liz asked.**

**"Thirty-five miles out of Billings."**

**"Montana," Diane Casey said, her breath catching in her throat. She reached up and muted the outgoing audio for a second. "That's in the 9th Circuit Court's jurisdiction." She turned the audio back on.**

**"It's beautiful," Max said again.**

**"Max, it's a cage," Michael said, muting the outgoing audio again momentarily. "You can't be seriously considering it!"**

**"I'm not, but it's gorgeous. I've never lived in anything like that."**

**"Okay, it's a gilded cage," Michael corrected with exasperation. "A cage is still a cage, Max."**

**Max sighed. "Yeah, I know. Once we were in there, we'd be their prisoners… with the law keeping us inside. Don't worry, Michael. I'm not falling."**

**Michael turned the audio back on. "Thank you… uh, I don't think we got your name."**

**"Jeffers… William Smythe, Esquire, at your service."**

**"Well, Mr. Jeffers, as I was saying, we appreciate the offer, but we're going to have to turn it down."**

**"You can't be serious! Think about what you're giving up!"**

**"We already have," Michael said. **

**The man on the vidscreen appeared flustered. Obviously, he was not prepared to be turned down and didn't quite know how to reply. "I… I'll have to get back to you on the matter. I need to speak to the other, uh, benefactors and give them your response."**

**Max nodded and turned the vidscreen off.**

**"Well, there you have it," Dan Klein said. "That's what their plan is. Get you into their jurisdiction then slap the cage door closed."**

**"I can't believe the gall," Diane spat, not mincing any words.**

**"But now that I know what they're up to," Eagle One said, "I can get my legal staff working on it and see what can be done… legally."**

**"There's no need," Michael of Antar said. "We're outta here! In the morning… Tonight if everyone's ready. When they come back with another offer we'll be long gone already."**

**Eagle One nodded thoughtfully. "Still… I think I need to have my staff look at this offer. The guy on your fancy TV was right about one thing. We DO owe you a big debt of gratitude. There's nobody who would deny that. Maybe this 'offer' could backfire on the, uh, 'benefactors'."**

**"Maybe," Michael agreed. "But it's safer to take off and not have to worry about it." Michael's concern wasn't for himself but rather for the safety of everyone on the ship, especially Max, and he felt a similar obligation to protect their younger doubles. Protecting others was Michael's job… and his life.**

**"Give me 48 hours, Mister Guerin. They can't touch you as long as you're in New Mexico airspace. I may be able to make lemonade out of a benchful of lemons."**

**Michael looked at Max, and Max shrugged and nodded.**

**"Okay, Mr. President," Michael agreed. "Forty-eight hours. Then we're out of here. Is everyone okay with that?"**

**Michael looked around the room, and everyone nodded.**

**"Forty-eight hours."**

**tbc**

**The Circuit Court's plan hits a snag they never expected.**


	46. Dreams45

The Night The Dreams Died 

**A "Major" Snag**

**Chapter 45**

**XLV**

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**"Are you ready for this, Mom?" Maria asked.**

**Amy looked at her daughter and smiled. "Honey, I've had some practice. The question is, are YOU ready?" **

**Maria nodded and grinned. "I'll never be readier, Mom."**

**"You look so beautiful, sweetie! I think I'm going to cry."**

**"Mom, don't! You're mascara will run! Just smile and think about you and Jim."**

**"Yeah… yeah," Amy agreed, realizing that Maria was right. But that didn't make it any easier when she looked at her daughter… her baby… standing there in her wedding dress. Maria was getting married! Amy still couldn't get her mind to totally accept that, though she had already given in to the reality. As for herself, technically and legally, in every way, she and Jim already were married. Reverend Garrett had married them at her memorial, when everyone thought she had died in the "accident" that General Hawkins staged to cover her planned "disappearance." But Amy had outfoxed the General. Then she had walked in on her own memorial… and on some very surprised guests… mad as a hornet with its wings clipped after walking back from the base without her car under the hot desert sun; and somehow, standing there covered in sweat and desert dust, she had wound up getting married to Jim… "because the preacher was already there." But later she had promised herself and Maria that she would have a "real, traditional" wedding, with Maria present, once they were all safe again. Now seemed to be that time… at least if it was going to be a real earth wedding with a real earth pastor officiating.**

**Only a few feet away from Amy and Maria, Vera Taylor, the nurse Jeff Parker had hired to take care of Liz while Liz was in a coma… and for a while after that… was checking Liz over carefully and sniffling.**

**"Is it okay if I cry? I don't care if my mascara does run. You look so… so…" Vera paused and sniffed again. "You're so beautiful, Elizabeth!"**

**"Just Liz, Vera. I'm still just Liz… especially for you."**

**Vera smiled at Liz lovingly. "For two months, I knew you only as a pretty little girl in a deep sleep who might never wake up. Then you woke up and you were a SWEET, pretty little girl who never complained about anything even though your legs… and even your arms, at first… were paralyzed, and I pushed you around in a wheelchair and fed you. But you refused to give up or ever feel sorry for yourself. Now look at you! You're so… so all grown up and beautiful and… and you're walking again. I can't get over it." Vera picked a napkin up off the table beside her and wiped her eyes with it.**

**"Aw, Vera…" Liz touched a hand to Vera's cheek affectionately. "You had a lot to do with it. If I hadn't had you when I needed you… I don't know what might have become of me. You encouraged me. You never let me be sad. You took me for rides in the park in my wheelchair. And when Judge Lewis stole my diary and I started yelling for help, you came running ready to take him on all by yourself."**

**Vera chuckled. "Your little friend, Alex, and Sheriff Jim got him first. Your little friend packs a pretty good punch for a little guy."**

**Liz laughed. "Yeah. Alex is not so little, though, Vera. He's getting married, too."**

**"I know," Vera said, attempting to nod while shaking her head at the same time. "But to me you'll always be my children."**

**"I think I like that," Liz said, smiling. **

**Now in her early fifties, Vera never had children of her own. She had once planned to, but her fiancé died in Vietnam when they were both young, and she never found another that she could love the way she had loved him, so she became a nurse and dedicated herself to helping children who needed her. It provided a sense of fulfillment and an outlet for the nurturing soul inside her. **

**A short distance from Liz and Vera, Isabel sat in front of a mirror. She looked radiant. It had taken Isabel longer than the others to realize that going to Antar was what she really wanted, even though she would be leaving her parents for no one knew how long. But she knew that she would see them again in time. Max and Liz and Michael and Maria had already said that they were going. This left Isabel in the difficult position of having to make a choice… whether to go with them or stay with the parents she had come to love on the planet that she already felt was her home. It was the sudden realization that she could be happy anywhere… as long as it was with Alex… that changed her mind. She looked up at the stars then looked at Alex. Alex saw the change come over her face… and he knew. Without missing a beat, he merely asked if they could see Antar through the New Granolith's observatory dome and how long it was going to take them to get there. It wasn't necessary to say anything more. In some strange way, Alex didn't have to say anything more… and neither did Isabel. They were going. It was as simple and plain to see as that. And there was one other thing that they didn't have to say… They were going together, as a couple. Now, less than twenty-four hours later, Isabel sat in front of the mirror, in her wedding dress, carefully touching up her hair, as Diane Casey assisted her.**

**It was a testament to the Antarians' technology… albeit the Antarians in another dimension… that tailor droids on the New Granolith were able to produce so many beautiful wedding dresses in a matter of less than twenty-four hours… and do it to the specifications and in the pattern that each bride had chosen. No one was complaining about the shortness of time to prepare, though. Everyone knew that within another twenty-four hours they might no longer be anywhere near earth; and Reverend Garrett, who had been asked onboard the ship on very short notice to officiate, was not expecting to make a trip to Antar.**

**As the girls put on their final touches, the door opened, and Tess looked in. Liz, Maria, Amy, and Isabel all looked like they were ready, and Tess smiled. "Everything's a go, girls. It's showtime… as soon as you're ready."**

**Liz looked at Tess and nodded. "I'm ready, Tess." Liz walked toward the door, with Vera helping her with her gown. Maria followed with Amy, and Isabel and Diane followed Maria. The girls all managed somehow to crowd into the ascension chamber together, and Tess took the chamber from the third level up to the fifth level. There, the chamber stopped, and the door opened. An anti-grav sled was waiting for them. The sled had actually been designed for use by the harvester droids… to assist them in moving large quantities of vegetables, fruits, and sometimes other items around the ship, but it had been spruced up and shined, and seats had been added for the occasion. With everyone onboard, the sled moved off slowly down the trail through the gardens. A minute and a half later, the sled stopped, and Tess got off. Then she helped the others off.**

**"We wait here until they start to play 'Here Comes The Bride.' Then you will each march to the edge of the pond and stop in front of Reverend Garrett. Your escorts will be here any minute…"**

**As Tess spoke, Jeff Parker, Phillip Evans, Jim Valenti of Antar, and Rahn came up behind them. Tess turned and smiled.**

**"And here they are! You guys ready?"**

**"To marry off my daughter?" Jeff Parker asked. "No way! But she'd never forgive me if I didn't now." Jeff winked at Liz, and Liz smiled back. "I think we're ready," Jeff said.**

**Tess moved Jeff into position with his daughter, Liz, on his arm. Then she positioned Jim Valenti of Antar next to Maria, since Maria's mother's new husband, the younger Jim, who was Maria's stepfather now, was getting married himself… to Amy. Jim and Amy were officially already married, of course, but Amy was keeping her promise to Maria… and besides, she wanted this herself. Tess then positioned Phillip Evans with his daughter, Isabel, and finally, she put Rahn with Amy and handed each girl her bouquet. **

**"I am to give you away," Rahn said to Amy.**

**Amy smiled. "It's an earth custom, Rahn. Somebody has to do it."**

**"I know," Rahn replied. "It is the same on Antar."**

**"Really?"**

**Rahn nodded. **

**At that moment, everyone turned to look, as someone else appeared behind them on the path.**

**"Angie Lee?" Liz exclaimed, looking the new arrival over. Omigod! You're… you're getting married, too? …you and… and Kyle? That's great! That's so cool!"**

**Angie Lee grinned and nodded shyly. "Grandpa and I talked it over, and he understands. We have to do this."**

**"Besides," Gray Hawk said, walking up on the side and taking Angie Lee on his arm, if I don't get them married and into their own place soon, I'll never get to watch what I want to watch on my new TV that Michael got for me."**

**Liz smiled, and everyone laughed.**

**"Kyle likes it, too, huh?" Maria asked.**

**Tess nodded. "Grandpa is taking this philosophically. He says he's not losing a granddaughter, he's gaining a TV."**

**Everyone laughed again. Gray Hawk, who normally managed to appear stern and sober on any occasion, even cracked a small smile. He had actually grown fond of Kyle and enjoyed having him around, and Angie Lee was more than a guest to him, she was family. But he knew that that arrangement was not meant to continue… at least in his house. Angie Lee had to leave the nest. All of nature did it. Little birds spread their wings and felt the wind under them… and the next thing, they were jumping out of the nest. If they waited too long, the mama bird sometimes encouraged them with a little push. Gray Hawk knew nature well… and he respected it. He knew when the time had come, and he knew that it had.**

**Everyone looked up suddenly, as strains of "Here Comes The Bride" drifted through the air. Liz looked at her father and nodded, and Jeff swallowed and walked forward with Liz on his arm. As they rounded the corner and marched toward the waterfall, they saw people seated on both sides of the path around them. There were actually quite a few guests present considering the extremely short notice. Liz marched down the "aisle," on her father's arm, smiling radiantly; when she reached a point about half way to the waterfall, Maria began her walk on the arm of her stepfather's double, Jim of Antar. She, too, was smiling radiantly, as were the others. Isabel followed, on her father's arm, then Amy, on Rahn's arm. Angie Lee marched down the aisle after Isabel, on Gray Hawk's arm. Each bride started her walk when the one before her reached the half-way point.**

**Liz stopped beside Max, who was waiting for her, along with the other grooms, at the edge of the pond. She turned around and stood with him, facing the guests. Maria followed, taking her place beside a very dapper-looking Michael, then Isabel marched down the path to the edge of the pond and smiled at Alex, as she, too, turned to face the guests beside her future husband. Amy followed next, stopping and turning to face the guests with Jim, then Angie Lee marched down the aisle and stood with her future husband, Kyle, who had managed to slip into the lineup at the last moment before the brides' march had started.**

**Liz glanced at Max and smiled, and Max smiled back at her. He looked so handsome all dressed up. The tux he wore fit him absolutely perfectly. But of course, it would have, since it was made for him. Liz thought that she had never seen Max look quite so handsome, which was saying a lot, because she had never seen him at any time when she thought he didn't look handsome. It was just natural for him. He couldn't help it. Max, for his part, had watched as Liz walked down the path, in absolute awe of her beauty… and something else. He had loved her when she could walk… and he had loved her when she couldn't. But now, as she marched lightly, even gracefully, down the path toward him, her smile lighting up her face, he realized that the joy he was seeing in Liz was a reflection of her love for him… and every step she took became a step deeper into his heart. **

**Maria looked at Michael and felt exactly the same feeling that Liz felt toward Max. To Maria, Michael was too handsome to be legal. It made her heart leap knowing that Michael was hers and she was his… and soon, they would be joined in name as well as in heart and soul. Michael had never really opened his heart to anyone outside of his own little "alien" group… but that was before Maria. Maria was special… and never more so than right now, as she walked toward him down the "aisle," looking more beautiful than he could ever have thought possible. **

**Alex had that special smile on his face and that sort of indefinable sparkle in his eye. It always got to Isabel right where she lived. She didn't know why, exactly, but she couldn't help it. It reduced her to jelly inside. What she couldn't understand was that Alex worshipped her as the closest thing to a goddess that he had ever met. To Alex, just the fact that Isabel, who could have had any guy she ever wanted, had ever gone out with him at all was a miracle. That she was marrying him now was something he dared not even try to figure out. He might wake up and find out it was all a dream.**

**Jim was ruggedly handsome, and Amy had always been attracted to him… ever since as far back as she could remember… but the attraction had been mutual, too. Still, as fate or whatever would have it, they had both married someone else, and it hadn't worked out. Now they were both getting a second chance at happiness together, and both of them knew that it was right.**

**Angie Lee didn't know what it was that she liked about Kyle… maybe it was just everything… his good looks, his wit, the way he looked at her, the way he kissed her. One thing she did know, though… she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. Kyle knew it and wanted it, too. As a fairly popular school jock, Kyle had been used to the girls gravitating toward him. He could have probably had almost any girl in school, and he knew it. But he didn't want just any girl. At one time, he thought he wanted Liz. But her heart wound up being "alien-abducted." Now he was actually glad. He hadn't known Angie Lee then. Angie Lee was different than any other girl he had ever known. Angie Lee captured his heart the way Max captured Liz's, but Kyle suspected that good old human hormones and feelings had more to do with it than any alien powers. **

**Reverend Garrett cleared his throat, as the sound of "Here Comes The Bride" suddenly stopped. He looked around at the brides and grooms and at the guests gathered in seats along the sides of the path. They were surrounded by roses and flowers of every imaginable type and color. In fact, some of the flowers in the New Granolith's vast gardens may have actually been unimaginable. Reverend Garrett was certain that he had never seen some of them before. Behind him, a waterfall dropped over some large rocks, from a height of around fifteen feet, into a large, clear, sandy-bottomed pond that reached a depth of about thirty feet near the falls. All together, it was a beautiful picture… the serene, clear pond with its cascading waterfall behind him and the colorful flowers all around. The only thing missing from this idyllic picture seemed to be the bluebirds.**

**As Reverend Garrett looked around, he noticed that a pink-rose bush on his left and a red-rose bush on his right had, at some point while they were standing there, changed into pure white roses. Max just smiled. **

**After rubbing his eyes and looking again, Reverend Garrett decided that it was best not to question, and he raised the little ceremony book in his hands and addressed the guests…**

**"Dearly beloved, we are gathered today to celebrate the unions of these four… uh… five couples who have professed their eternal, undying love for each other and their desire to partake willingly and joyfully of the blessed rite of matrimony. Marriage, some would say, is a partnership. But it is much more than that. Truly, marriage takes what was once two and makes it henceforth and forever one. The five couples before me today are here to say… before God… and before all those present here in this… in this, uh… garden… that this is their wish. What God chooses to join together, let no man tear apart…**

**Maxwell Evans… do you take this woman, Elizabeth Parker, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Elizabeth Parker, do you take this man, Maxwell Evans, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Who gives this woman away?"**

**"That would be me," Jeff Parker said.**

**"Is there a ring?" Reverend Garrett asked.**

**"It's okay," Liz whispered to Max. "I know there wasn't time."**

**Max looked past Liz and made a nodding motion and a quiet whistle. Suddenly, there was a commotion in the gardens, and people began to whisper and gasp. From the other side of the pond, a very large cat… with two huge tusks… appeared and then trotted over to Max. It almost looked like it was smiling. Reverend Garrett took a couple of steps back and gave it plenty of room. Max reached down and looked at a collar around the cat's neck, then he removed something from it. It was a small box. He opened it and removed two rings.**

**"Liz, I give you this ring as a symbol of my intentions… my intention to hold you forever here in my heart and my intention to make you my wife." He slipped a diamond ring onto her finger. "And I give you this ring…" He slipped a gold band onto her finger. "As a symbol of my undying, eternal love." **

**"Then by the power vested in me by the state of New Mexico and God above, I declare that you are husband and wife… You may kiss the bride," Reverend Garrett said. **

**Max held Liz and kissed her, as Liz slipped one hand behind Max's head and returned the kiss joyfully.**

**Reverend Garrett gave them a respectful amount of time and then ahem'd.**

**"Sorry, Max. There are others who want to be married today."**

**Max nodded and smiled.**

**Reverend Garrett moved to Michael and Maria.**

**"Michael Guerin, do you take this woman, Maria DeLuca, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"Yeah, I do."**

**"Maria DeLuca, do you take this man, Michael Guerin, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do, too."**

**"Who gives this woman away?"**

**"Me," Jim of Antar said.**

**"Is there a ring?" Reverend Garrett asked, glancing at Jung-Jo cautiously and stepping back again just in case. Jung-Jo trotted over to Michael, and Michael removed a second small box from the collar. He opened it and removed two rings.**

**"Maria, I was nobody until I met you. You gave my life real meaning. Just as this diamond may once have been a piece of carbon, you changed me and made me better for it. I give you this ring so that you will always remember that you did that for me and I love you for it." Michael slipped the diamond ring onto Maria's finger. "And I give you this gold band so that you will always know that, just like this band is a circle and has no end, our love will have no end either." **

**"Then by the power vested in me by the state of New Mexico and God above, I declare that you are husband and wife…" Reverend Garrett said. "You may kiss the bride." **

**Maria smiled, as Michael took her in his arms and kissed her passionately. Reverend Garrett looked around for a few moments and took a deep breath, then he tapped lightly on Michael's back.**

**"Ahem."**

**Michael smiled at Maria as he released her, and she smiled back at him.**

**Reverend Garrett moved on…**

**"Alex Charles Whitman, do you take Isabel Amanda Evans to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Isabel Amanda Evans, do you take this man, Alex Charles Whitman, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Who gives this woman away?"**

**"I do," Phillip Evans said.**

**"Is there a ring?" Reverend Garrett asked, stepping back without looking this time. Jung-Jo trotted gingerly over to Alex, and Alex smiled and patted him on the head then removed a third little box from the collar. He opened the box and removed the two rings.**

**He slipped the first ring onto Isabel's finger. "Isabel, like the stars in the sky, let this ring always speak to you of our love, because as long as there are stars in the sky, my love for you will never die… and when there are no longer stars in the sky, my love for you will still shine on." Alex slipped the band onto Isabel's finger. "And this gold band is my heart. It has no beginning and no end. It just is… and so shall our love be… forever."**

**Reverend Garrett smiled, then he realized that it was time for him to speak again.**

**"Then by the power vested in me by the state of New Mexico and God above, I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."**

**Alex kissed Isabel, and she kissed him back with passion.**

**Reverend Garrett moved next to Jim and Amy, and he suddenly realized who they were. Remembering the ceremony at the memorial, Reverend Garrett glanced at his book. "Will I, uh, be needing this," he whispered.**

**Jim nodded and smiled. "We're doing it the long way this time." **

**Reverend Garrett nodded. "James Valenti, do you take this woman, Amy DeLuca Valenti, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Amy DeLuca Valenti, do you take this man, James Valenti, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Who gives this woman away?"**

**"I believe I have that honor," Rahn said proudly.**

**"Is there a ring?" Reverend Garrett asked.**

**Jung-Jo trotted over to Jim. Reverend Garrett forgot to step back this time, but then he realized that he felt safe enough right where he was. Apparently, this saber-tooth tiger… or whatever it was… was not afraid of him and did not show any signs of being aggressive. Jim reached down and looked at the collar around Jung-Jo's neck, then he removed the fourth small box, the one with his name on it. He opened it and removed two rings.**

**"Amy, this is what I should have had the sense to give you a long time ago." Jim slipped the diamond ring onto Amy's finger. "And this gold band is pure and beautiful… and endless, like my love for you will be." Jim slipped the band onto her finger. **

**"Then by the power vested in me by the state of New Mexico and God above, I declare that you are husband and wife… You may kiss the bride," Reverend Garrett said.**

**Jim kissed Amy, and she kissed him back. Then Reverend Garrett moved to the final couple…**

**"Kyle Valenti, do you take this woman, Angie Lee, to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Angie Lee, do you take this man, Kyle Valenti, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?"**

**"I do."**

**"Who gives this woman away?"**

**"I do," Gray Hawk said sternly.**

**"Is there a ring?" Reverend Garrett asked.**

**Jung-Jo trotted over to Kyle, and Kyle removed the final box, which had been added to Jung-Jo's collar at the last moment. Kyle opened the little box and removed the two rings from it.**

**"Angie Lee, this diamond ring is like my love. Like this diamond, my love for you is pure… in truth and in intentions." He slipped the diamond ring onto her finger. "And this gold band will never tarnish. Just like my love for you, it will shine forever." Kyle slipped the band onto Angie Lee's finger. **

**"Then by the power vested in me by the state of New Mexico and the will of God above, I declare that you are husband and wife… You may kiss the bride," Reverend Garrett said.**

**Kyle pressed Angie Lee to him and the two of them kissed each other passionately. Reverend Garrett watched for a few moments then shrugged, deciding that since there were no others to marry, he would let them be. Eventually, they had to come up… even if it was only for air.**

**Reverend Garrett looked at the big cat in front of him and reached out and patted it on the head…**

**"You make a pretty good best man. You didn't lose a single ring."**

**Jung-Jo turned his head and looked at Reverend Garrett, and the Reverend could have sworn that the cat smiled at him.**

**After the ceremony, the newlyweds changed their clothes then joined the guests in the galley, which had been nicely decorated for the reception, considering the short time available. But the Antarian group had given it their best effort while their younger doubles had been choosing wedding dresses and rings and getting measured for tuxes. The droids onboard made the wedding dresses for the brides and the tuxes for the grooms. The individual grooms chose the rings they liked, which were then purchased from a local jeweler with funds mostly provided by Max from Antar. It was Antarian money, but the jeweler wasn't complaining. It was gold… and probably collectible besides, due to its rarity. **

**Deputy David Cotter sauntered up to Jim and nodded. "I guess you were serious after all, huh, Jimbo! You've married Amy twice now! You think it finally took?"**

**Jim smiled. "It took the first time, Dave. This was something Amy wanted to do for Maria… and for her, too. The wedding at her memorial was legal, but you know… well… it's the circumstances. She wanted to be able to say we planned it and didn't back down."**

**"Well, you didn't back down, Jim. You're married for sure!" David laughed.**

**"That's okay, Dave… someone will catch you one of these days… then you'll see what it's all about."**

**"No, no! Not me, Jimbo! I'm too much of a wildcat."**

**"That didn't keep me from lovin' Jim," Amy said, walking up behind Deputy Cotter at that moment. "In fact, it's one of the things I like about him."**

**Jim grinned. "There you go, Dave. See? Your days are numbered."**

**Dave nodded good-naturedly. "Well… congratulations, Jim. I think you're a lucky guy."**

**"Thanks, Dave. Yeah… I am."**

**Nearby, Jeff Parker hugged Liz and kissed her. "I'm gonna miss my little girl."**

**Liz grinned. "Your little girl's grown up now, Daddy. She's already gone. But I'm here."**

**"You're still my little girl, Liz. You're just… well… my grown up little girl now."**

**Jeff turned to Max. "Be good to her, Max. Take good care of her."**

**"I will."**

**"I'll give you the list when I'm finished making it," Jeff added.**

**"List?"**

**"Yeah. All the things you promise to do to make sure my little girl stays happy."**

**"Oh, Daddy!" Liz scolded. "Daddy's kidding you, Max."**

**Jeff shook his head, but Max smiled.**

**"Don't worry, Mister Parker. I'll make her happy."**

**"He will, Daddy," Liz added. "Trust me… I mean, him." Then she turned to Max and kissed him. "You do, you know, Max."**

**Phillip Evans walked over and congratulated Max then gave Liz a kiss on the cheek, then he struck up a conversation with Jeff. Max took advantage of the interruption to excuse himself and disappear… with Liz… over to where Michael was standing.**

**"What's it like having a father-in-law now," Michael asked, noticing Max talking with Jeff Parker.**

**"You should know."**

**"No. I've only got a mother-in-law."**

**"You've got Jim," Max reminded him. "He's your father-in-law now."**

**Michael swallowed. Somehow that fact had not yet occurred to him.**

**"But Jim's cool," Max said. "He's okay."**

**Liz smiled and winked at Max. "Yeah, at least Jim probably won't write up a list of things you have to do to keep Maria happy like Daddy says he's going to give to Max." **

**"Oh, Amy already did that," Michael replied. "Did Mister Parker have you sign it, Max?"**

**"Sign it? No! It was a joke!"**

**"Amy made me sign it… in triplicate. She gave me one copy, She's keeping a copy, and she's putting a copy in a bank vault."**

**Max started to chuckle then broke out laughing. "Amy would!"**

**"Well, I'm her only child," Maria said, grinning impishly. "She's just trying to look out for me." Maria kissed Michael. "But I don't need a copy, Michael. I know you'll keep me happy."**

**"Did Gray Hawk make a list of things you're supposed to do to treat Angie Lee right," Liz asked Kyle, who had just walked up. Kyle shook his head.**

**"He doesn't need to. He knows I've seen his tomahawk."**

**Angie Lee winked at Liz and smiled.**

**Max turned around, hearing someone call his name. Varec waved at him from the other side of the room, and Max from Antar was with him.**

**"We'd better see what they want, Max said. Michael nodded, and the two of them, together with Liz, Maria, Kyle, and Angie Lee, walked over to where Varec and Max of Antar were.**

**"There's a transmission for all of us in my quarters. We need to take it in private. Follow me," Max of Antar said. He turned and walked out of the galley, and the others followed.**

**"Alex and Isabel are on their way. I spoke to them right before I called you."**

**"Who is it," Michael asked.**

**"I don't know yet. We all have to be there."**

**The seven of them took the ascension chamber one floor up, to the living quarters on the third floor, then they walked to Max of Antar's room. Liz and the other Antarian members of the group were already there. So were Alex and Isabel of their own group.**

**"What's the big secret," Michael asked his Antarian counterpart.**

**"Let's find out," Michael said, passing his hand over a sensor. The vidscreen came on.**

**"Eagle One!" Kyle whispered, using the caller's code name.**

**The caller looked up at the screen. "Oh, good! I see you're all here. First, I guess I should say, congratulations! I understand that there were some weddings on your ship today."**

**"Yes, sir," Max replied. "We invited you, but your staff said that you were tied up."**

**"That's true. Sorry I couldn't make it. But I took the liberty of accepting the 9th Circuit Court's offer for you."**

**Max looked at Michael, and both of their mouths dropped open.**

**"I thought he was on our side," Michael said to Max. **

**Max shrugged. "I thought so, too."**

**"Here's the deal," Eagle One continued. "If you remember, I told you that I might be able to make lemonade out of some lemons you had been offered…"**

**"You said out of some lemons on the bench, I believe," Michael corrected.**

**Eagle One smiled. "So I did. Anyway, I found the trump card I was looking for, so we can all have lemonade if we like… sweetened with plenty of sugar!"**

**Max looked at Michael, and Michael shrugged.**

**Eagle One continued. "Even though we could appeal to the Supreme Court if the 9th Circuit tried to illegally restrain your movements, that would take some time, and it was best to avoid a bad situation to start with, so I talked it over with General David Strickland, and we decided on a strategy that will make you impervious to any rulings that would attempt to legally or illegally restrain you. General Strickland has agreed to this. Both of you, Max Evans and Max of Antar, are as of this moment, majors in the U.S. Army."**

**Michael looked at Max then at Eagle One. "I wasn't planning on enlisting, sir. As you said, I may be leaving here soon anyway."**

**Eagle One waved his hand dismissively and nodded. "I know. It's alright. The two of you will be your own unit… wherever you go. It'll be an undercover thing. Actually, you'll be free to go wherever you please. It's just a way to protect you from any hastily drawn up laws that wouldn't be legal anyway to keep you here. No circuit court can make any law that would restrain the free movements of a special operative in the armed forces. They can't touch you."**

**"Do they know this," Liz asked.**

**Eagle One smiled. "Not yet. I intend to tell them myself… right after they've given you the keys to the estate. It's my little wedding present. Okay, it's their little wedding present really, but that's a technicality."**

**"We, uh… we… appreciate it, sir," Michael replied, "but if we're leaving, we won't be needing the estate."**

**"Well, I was hoping that we might convince you to return sometime… of your own free will, of course. There are many of us here who really do appreciate you and want you here. And we certainly do owe you a lot. If you accept the offer, you will always have the estate in Montana to come to whenever you come back. It's a very secure estate, and it's in beautiful countryside. Most of us in this nation would love to see you take the estate and give us some hope that one day you may return… even if it's only for a visit."**

**"And the 9th Circuit?" Max asked.**

**Eagle One smiled. "They'll get over it."**

**"Sounds to me," Liz said, "like their plan just hit a 'Major' snag… Major Max Evans, that is!"**

**Maria nodded. "Do I get to pick my own room?"**

**"There are thirty to pick from," Eagle One said. "Pick two… heck, pick three or four. You've got thirty bedrooms, thirty baths, a guesthouse, horses… and acres and acres of private countryside and woodlands… Oh! And a river with lots of trout!"**

**Max smiled and looked at Michael again. "It is a beautiful estate."**

**Michael nodded and looked at Maria. "Maybe we could spend a couple of nights there before we go, I guess. What's a couple of more days? You think your mom will be impressed, Maria?"**

**"How could she not be?"**

**Michael smiled. "Yeah, right! How could she not be, right? I'm gonna take real good care of you, Maria! She'll see!"**

**tbc**

**Coming up: After a relaxing six-day honeymoon in Montana, the group sets its sights on Antar, and the Antarian group makes plans to return home to their own dimension once their younger doubles are safely settled in on their Antar. **


	47. Dreams46

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The 9th Key Before Good-bye**

**Chapter 46**

**XLVI******

**"Whoa!" Michael said, pulling in the reins on his large black stallion. The younger of the two Michaels dismounted gracefully, as though he had been born for horseback riding. Then he gave his steed a couple of pats on the side, as the horse bent down to drink from the cool, clear waters of the river. Beside him, Max dismounted lightly from his own horse at the same time.**

**"Are you sure you guys never rode a horse before we came here," Jim asked, agilely dismounting from his own horse, a large white stallion. "I never saw anyone take to riding the way you two have the last few days."**

**Michael shrugged. "What's so hard about it? You just sit there and pull the reins the way you want to go. The horse does all the work. You say 'Whoa' to stop and 'Giddy-up' to go. The only thing you've got to do is be able to sit there and not fall off."**

**"Not everyone takes to it quite as easily as you and Max, though, Michael. You're naturals."**

**"Well, look at my double over there. He rides like a pro."**

**"Yeah, well, he's ridden before, though… on his planet. They have horses there, too. I think he told me they call them something else… and they look a little different… but they're still basically horses… well, about like a zebra would be a horse. You know what I mean."**

**"I haven't fallen off yet," Amy said, stepping easily onto the ground.**

**Jim smiled and raised his eyebrows, and Maria slid off of her own horse and shook her head with a grin. "You really ought to learn to ride a horse, though, Mom. Jim offered to teach you."**

**"Yeah, I know." Amy patted Jung-Jo on the head. "But I don't have so far to fall if I fall off of Jung-Jo."**

**Liz laughed and patted her own horse then rubbed its head. "Well, at least the horses are finally getting used to Jung-Jo. The first time you brought him out, all the horses headed for the hills… with us on them."**

**"I said I was sorry about that, Liz. Who'd have known they'd be afraid of Jung-Jo!"**

**"Yeah, who'd have known," Maria repeated, grinning and winking at Liz. "I thought horses and alien saber-tooth tigers were real pals."**

**Amy puckered her lips and looked at Maria menacingly. "I know when I'm being made fun of, young lady. You're not too big to be spanked, you know."**

**"Yeah, right!" Maria laughed. "You've gotta catch me first." Maria hopped back onto her horse and shook the reins. "Giddy-up!" The horse took off at a gallop toward the woods. Amy watched for a few seconds then climbed back onto Jung-Jo's back, which was just high enough for Amy's feet to be about two feet off the ground.**

**"Giddy-up, boy!"**

**Jung-Jo turned his head around and looked at Amy. **

**"You know what I mean! Go catch Maria! We can't let her make fun of us like that. Come on!"**

**Jung-Jo trotted off toward the woods.**

**"Faster, Jung-Jo! You can do better than that! Maria will be all the way back to the house before we catch her at this rate."**

**Jung-Jo picked up his speed… considerably. For a moment, Amy wondered if she'd made a mistake, but she really did want to catch up to Maria… so she leaned forward and held on tight. It was a competitive moment that might have over-reached just a tad, but Amy was kind of enjoying the breeze in her face and the seemingly effortless speed that the large cat was able to so easily attain. It was a smoother ride than a horse, she was pretty sure. Jung-Jo ran swiftly into the woods and down the trail that Maria had gone down, which led back toward the house. Within twenty seconds, Amy spotted Maria. Maria looked back and coaxed her horse to go faster, but Jung-Jo was still gaining on her fast. That's when it happened…**

**The squirrel leapt out of the way of Maria's horse then tried to cross the path again behind her, but Jung-Jo was closing the gap too swiftly. Unable to get out of the way quick enough, the frazzled squirrel leapt straight up, coming down on Jung-Jo's head, leaping over Amy, then using Jung-Jo's rear haunches as a sort of springboard to leap for the nearest tree and safety. It was something that Jung-Jo could not ignore. **

**The squirrel raced up the tree, probably moving faster than it had ever moved in its life, and Jung-Jo headed up the tree right behind it. Somehow, Amy managed to hang on for her life, her legs wrapped around Jung-Jo's body and her arms around his neck.**

**The squirrel reached the top of the tree and, with its pursuer breathing hot breaths on its fluffy little tail, leapt to the top of the next nearest tree. Jung-Jo followed, sailing through the air as though he were endowed with invisible wings and a springboard. The squirrel leapt from that tree to another, then another, sailing rapidly from tree to tree, trying to shake the big cat, but Jung-Jo was always there, close enough to have grabbed it if he had tried hard enough.**

**At some point, Jung-Jo either tired of chasing the squirrel or became aware of Amy's screams, because he paused on a large limb and looked back at his rider, who was now draped over his back tighter than a piece of Saran wrap around an apple. At about this time, Jim, Max, Michael, Liz, and Rahn rode up beneath the tree on their horses, followed closely by the Antarian group. They looked up at Jung-Jo, who was standing nimbly on a branch about fifty feet up, high in the tree.**

**"Amy, you're supposed to stay on the path," Jim yelled, seeing that she was unharmed.**

**Amy bristled a bit, but after a quick appraisal of her situation, she closed her eyes and buried her face in the long hair on Jung-Jo's neck. **

**"Jim! Just get me down from here!" **

**"You want him to jump?"**

**"NO!" Amy yelled back. "Just… just… You can climb down… right, Jung-Jo? Nice kitty? You can do that, right? I'll just keep my eyes closed till you're back on the ground again."**

**Jung-Jo seemed to understand. He dropped nimbly from branch to branch until he was close enough to the ground, then he leapt smoothly the rest of the way. Jim reached over and pried Amy loose from Jung-Jo's back.**

**"You've got to let go, Amy… if you want to get off."**

**"I want to get off," Amy said in a hoarse whisper, "but I'm having a little trouble with the letting go part.**

**Jim pulled Amy loose then hugged her. "You're okay. I've got you now."**

**"Yeah, you've got me now, Jim… but where were you when I was leaping from tree to tree on that… that… giant, flying… tree frog?" **

**"Jung-Jo?"**

**"Whatever."**

**"He wouldn't have let you fall," Michael of Antar said.**

**"That's right," Jim of Antar agreed. "Jung-Jo knew you were hanging on. If you had fallen, he would have grabbed you."**

**"Oh, well, that's just peachy to know, Michael! I'll keep that in mind… but I'll keep my feet on the ground from now on, thank you!"**

**"Sounds like a good plan to me," Jim agreed.**

**"Jim?"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Horses don't climb trees, right?"**

**"Never."**

**"I think I'm ready for you to teach me to ride a horse."**

**Jim laughed. Amy looked at Jung-Jo, but then her look softened. "Oh, it's alright, Jung-Jo. I understand. I just wasn't made for that 'Me Jane, you Tarzan, we swing through the trees' stuff… You understand, right?"**

**Jung-Jo seemed to smile.**

**Back at the house, after a dinner that consisted in part of trout that Jim and Max had caught in the river earlier that day, most of the couples migrated into the grand parlor to read, play games, or simply chill out and relax. Night was starting to fall, and they could hear the crickets chirping in the nearby woods through the open windows. Though it wasn't winter, the evening air was unexpectedly cool, and Liz and Maria had started a fire in the fireplace. As Max and Michael walked into the room, the girls pulled them down next to them in front of the fire. Alex and Isabel and several others soon joined them. Everyone was totally enjoying the relaxed moment, and even with all the people who were there… including the doubles… the house was not at all crowded. The rooms were huge and airy, and the estate had a sort of unspoken charm and elegance to it. Plus… there was no shortage of places where a newlywed couple could find privacy, with all those rooms and all those acres around them plus the attics, the guest house, and who knew what else. In fact, Michael and Maria had already found a fair number of private places… for their own private knowledge only.**

**Looking around at everything again, Max smiled approvingly. "You know… I almost felt sorry for that judge when he gave us the keys and the deed and then found out what the president had done. ALMOST, that is… if I hadn't known what they were planning for us."**

**Michael glanced around the room. "Yeah! You were right, Max. It is a nice estate."**

**"But if we had fallen for their plan, we would be their prisoners in here now…" Max sighed. **

**Michael nodded. "We got lucky." **

**"I think it was a little more than luck, Michael," Liz said. "You were smart enough to smell a trap and avoid it… and we had some help from someone in a position to help. And things just came together." Liz looked around and smiled. "I'm going to like having this place. I hope we CAN come back… you know… now and then."**

**"I think that can probably be arranged," the younger Max agreed. "Once I've got my throne back and Antar is secure again."**

**Max's double from Antar grinned… "You'll like the royal palace. If it's like the one on our Antar, it's even bigger than this estate. But I've got to admit, there's something relaxing about this place. It's bright and airy. I like it."**

**"And Jim's already started teaching me to ride a horse," Amy said. "Michael's right. It's not so hard. You just have to remember 'Giddy-up' and 'Whoa' and be able to sit up straight without falling off."**

**"Unless it's a preacher's horse," Jim said.**

**Everyone looked at Jim, and Jim smiled craftily. "What? You never heard about the preacher's horse?"**

**Amy shook her head. "I have a feeling you're going to tell us, though."**

**"Well… since you asked," Jim said… **

**"You see, there was this country preacher who traded his horse in on a used car. 'There's just one thing you need to know about this horse,' the preacher told the car dealer. 'When you want to go, you have to say 'Hallelujah,' not 'Giddy-up.' And to stop, you have to say 'Amen,' not 'Whoa.'**

**The car dealer nodded. 'That doesn't sound so hard.' Deciding to test the horse out after the preacher was gone, the used car dealer climbed onto it and said 'Hallelujah.' The horse took off at a gallop. The car dealer then yelled 'Amen,' and the horse came to an abrupt stop. Starting to enjoy himself, the car dealer said 'Hallelujah' again, and the horse took off again. The car dealer rode the horse all the way through the town and into the countryside. After about thirty minutes, he noticed that he was riding toward a cliff. Alarmed, the car dealer yelled, 'Whoa, horse!' but the horse didn't stop. Becoming more alarmed, the car dealer tried to remember what the preacher had said to say to make the horse stop. At the last second, he yelled, 'AMEN!' and the horse stopped… right at the edge of the cliff. The car dealer peered over the horse's head at the long drop over the cliff, then he settled back into the saddle, wiped the sweat from his brow, and with a sigh of relief, said, 'Hallelujah!'"**

**Liz and Maria groaned, and Amy threw a sofa pillow at Jim, but everyone laughed. It was one of those nights when everything was good. Life was good. Corny jokes were good. The hot chocolate and marshmallows were good… as long as you didn't accidentally get one of the cups that was half filled with Tabasco sauce… or if you did, you were at least half Antarian. Liz looked at Max and smiled, and Max kissed her. Yep… life was very, very good. **

**It is said that all good things must come to an end, but Liz knew otherwise. The memories made in the last six days would live on in her mind, and she was sure that the others felt the same. For six wonderful days, they had enjoyed the "honeymoon estate," but they all knew instinctively that it was time to go. The younger Max and Michael were actually feeling drawn to Antar and couldn't wait to set out. The group from the other dimension was anxious to return home to their own dimension, their own planet, and their own families. Even the younger Liz and Maria had to admit that they felt just a tinge of something drawing them into the stars. They would miss earth… and their parents especially… but they felt good knowing that they would see them again in time. They were married now. Alex and Kyle felt it, too. It was something that they couldn't explain, but it was calling to them. Plus, it was an adventure… an adventure in a new life… with new partners. It just seemed so entirely "right" somehow. Gray Hawk had never had any doubts. The baby birds grow up, then they stretch their wings, then they fly away. Some just fly away further than others. But in the end, they make new nests with their own chosen mates… in new places. There was something familiar to it all, even in the vastness of galaxies and dimensions. **

**Appropriately, the parents had stayed in Roswell while the newlyweds enjoyed their honeymoon… except for Amy and Jim. Amy and Jim were newlyweds themselves, and the group never even considered not bringing them along. They all knew that Maria and Michael were resourceful enough to handle having them there… and, indeed, Maria and Michael had proved to be amply resourceful. In the end, it hadn't been necessary, though, because Amy and Jim were more preoccupied with each other and with enjoying their own honeymoon than with interfering in Michael and Maria's lives. Besides, for the first time, Amy knew that her baby really was all grown up now and deserved her happiness… and her privacy. Amy had allowed Maria and Michael that pleasure for six days, but today, Maria and Michael were leaving… and Amy and Jim were not. Today, Amy was once again a concerned mother. **

**And she was not alone… all the parents were there. They had come to say good-bye. Max and Liz had called them the day before to let them know that the time had come. **

**Now, with the New Granolith hovering in the sky above the estate, Amy hugged Maria one last time, sniffing and wiping tears from her eyes.**

**"I'm really going to miss you, baby. I don't know how I'll ever get by down here without you. I always thought you'd be… somewhere near… at least where I could call you now and then on the cell phone, you know?"**

**Maria looked at Michael, and Michael looked at Varec, who was standing nearby, waiting for the couples to join them on the ship. Varec shrugged slightly. "I don't know. I guess it could be done. It would be kind of like what we did in our dimension to the FBI's special unit with the cable TV thing. We could send a tiny light beam to earth, bouncing it off of different stars. I'd have to work out the problem of your phone company's charging, though. We can't charge it to the FBI's special unit this time."**

**Maria laughed and sniffed a couple of times. "Yeah, that would be some heavy-duty roaming charges!"**

**"You'll work on that, though, won't you," Amy said to Varec.**

**Varec nodded. "I'll see what I can do. I'll try to arrange something… if I can… before we leave to go back to our dimension. Maybe, if my double is there on Antar in this dimension, I can get him to finish it for me."**

**"I'll hold you to that," Amy said, giving Varec a kiss on the cheek. Then she looked at Michael. Michael prepared himself for Amy to tell him to take good care of Maria, treat her right, and make her happy… but Amy didn't say it. Instead, she just kissed Michael on the cheek and hugged him.**

**"I will," Michael said. Amy smiled.**

**Nearby, Jeff and Nancy Parker were taking turns hugging and kissing Liz and giving her all the fatherly and motherly advice they could think of before she left.**

**"I'll be fine, Dad! You don't need to worry. Max will take good care of me."**

**Jeff touched Liz lightly on the nose… "Lizzie, Honey, worrying is a right that all parents are granted. I think it's written on the back of your birth certificate or somewhere… and notarized."**

**Standing beside Jeff, waiting for another turn to hug Isabel after Diane was finished with her, Phillip Evans nodded. "If it's not, Jeff, I'll have it added for you… legally."**

**Jeff smiled. "See, Lizzie. We're allowed to worry. It's the law."**

**Liz smiled and hugged her Dad again. "Well, okay, since it's the law. But just remember that Max is taking good care of me. I'll be fine. And I'll be back. I don't know when, but I will."**

**"We're counting on that," Nancy said, kissing Liz again. "We're totally counting on that."**

**As Nancy spoke, not far away, Charles Whitman handed Alex his guitar. "I thought you might want this, son."**

**Alex took the guitar and nodded. "You know me pretty well, Dad. Thanks!" Alex leaned the guitar against the wall and squeezed his Dad's hand then hugged his Mom for several minutes.**

**"I'm gonna miss you guys. But I'll think about you a lot. Somewhere out there in the stars, I'll be playing my guitar and thinking about you." Alex smiled and looked at Isabel then sneaked his arm around her and pulled her close. "Isabel and I will be thinking about you."**

**Gloria smiled and touched Isabel on the cheek. "Take good care of my boy, Isabel. I know he'll take good care of you."**

**Isabel returned the smile and nodded. "I know he will, too, Mrs. Whitman. I will."**

**"You can call me Mom now, Isabel. Mrs. Whitman sounds so formal, don't you think?"**

**"Okay," Isabel agreed… "Mom."**

**Gloria smiled and looked at Charles. Charles kissed Isabel on the cheek then put his arm around Alex one final time. "You never liked me to do this, Alex, but I really need to put my arm around you and just hold you right now."**

**"It's okay, Dad, because I just realized… I really don't mind anymore." Alex put his arm around his dad then put the other one around him and hugged him.**

**On the other side of the room, Diane Evans finally managed to corner Max, who was busy getting everything and everyone ready to leave. She didn't know it, but Max had actually allowed himself to be cornered. A big part of him wanted… even needed… to belong, though a small part of him still held out for total independence. Max, unlike his sister, Isabel, had never felt entirely a part of the Evans family. Max had a keen awareness of his own difference… his own unique destiny… his unknown life on his unknown world. But now more than ever… Max NEEDED to belong. Maybe it was because he was leaving. He suddenly realized what he had had… what his earth "parents" had given him… shelter, food, a real home, but most of all, unconditional love. It's not that he hadn't known this before… or even that he hadn't appreciated it. It just had never really, truly registered. Not the way it did today.**

**Diane put her arms around Max and was surprised that he didn't try to pull away. Instead, he looked at her… then he put both arms around her and hugged her back. Phillip placed his hand on Max's back and smiled. "We're going to miss you… Son."**

**Max turned to face Phillip. "I'm going to miss you, too… Dad. You, too, Mom."**

**Diane smiled. "I still keep thinking I'm probably going to wake up some morning and find out that this whole thing about my children being aliens… the space ship… everything… was just a crazy dream. What was it Ebenezer Scrooge said… or was it his partner, Bob Marley? 'It may have all been just a piece of undigested pizza.' You know what he meant, Max… a crazy dream."**

**"Close enough," Max said, laughing. "You know what… Mom? Sometimes I have the same feeling." Max shook his head. "But it is real, Mom. All of it."**

**"I know," Diane said, giving him a final kiss. "I know."**

**Nearby, Jim stood looking at his son, Kyle, and nodding.**

**"Well, son… I guess you're really married now, huh?"**

**"Just as married as you and Amy, Dad."**

**Jim nodded. "The two of you are really gonna do this? You're going to Antar?"**

**"Yeah," Kyle replied simply. "Angie Lee and I have to go. She needs to know where she came from, and I… well, I need to be with her."**

**"Well I can't say I'm tickled about your leaving, Kyle, but… I understand. You will be back someday, right?"**

**Kyle nodded. "You know it, Dad. Just keep watching the stars."**

**"I'll have to buy that telescope that old man Witherspoon was trying to sell. It's supposed to be pretty good, he said."**

**"I don't think you'll be able to see Antar with it, Dad. I don't think any telescope is that good."**

**"Not Antar, Kyle. The stars. One in particular. One that'll be heading back towards earth after a long trip out in space."**

**Kyle grinned and nodded. "Keep watching, Dad. You'll see it. I promise."**

**Jim smiled and put one arm around his son, pulling him close.**

**"Take care of yourself, Kyle… and take care of Angie Lee, too. I want to see you both back here again safe and sound someday."**

**"I promise, Dad."**

**Standing behind Angie Lee, Gray Hawk smiled and nodded at Jim. Then he reached one hand out to Angie Lee. She put her hand in his. Then she stepped forward and kissed him.**

**"I'll think about you every day, Grandfather. Like Kyle said, look up at the stars. Just look up. I'll be there."**

**Gray Hawk nodded slowly. "Jim? Can I look through your telescope… sometimes?"**

**"Any time, Gray Hawk. We can watch together. Hey, we're kind of related now!"**

**"Hm," Gray Hawk muttered quietly. Jim wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but then Gray Hawk smiled and nodded.**

**Max handed his father, Phillip Evans, the keys and the deed to the estate. "Dad… take care of these for us while we're away, okay?"**

**Phillip nodded. "I'll put them in the vault at my law office. They'll be there waiting when you come back, Max."**

**"I know," Max said, then he smiled. "If you or any of the other parents would ever like to use this place… you know… for an occasional retreat or whatever…"**

**Phillip looked around and smiled. "Yeah… I just may do that, Max. Your mom and I could use a little get-away. She's been after me forever to take her some place private… like this." Phillip nodded. "We may at that. I'll tell the others. That's mighty generous of you, Max."**

**"Naw. I just think somebody should get to enjoy it, since we won't be here. And I can't think of anyone better than you and Mom… and Jeff and all the other parents. Jim and Amy might want to come up here again sometime, too. But be sure you tell Amy to stay on the path this time. Galloping through the treetops isn't allowed."**

**Phillip looked at Max with a puzzled expression, and Max smiled. "It's an inside joke. I'm sure she'll be glad to tell you about it if you ask."**

**Phillip nodded. "Normally, Max, I wouldn't want to get Amy started on something that sounded like it might take a lot of explaining, but in this case… I'll make an exception."**

**A voice behind them made Max and Phillip turn around.**

**"Everything's ready," Varec said. "We can transfer everyone up as soon as you're ready, Max."**

**Max looked at Phillip then at the others and nodded. "Well, there's no point in delaying. I think everyone is ready. We've all got our pins on." He looked around and the others nodded their agreement. **

**"We're ready, Varec."**

**As Max turned around again, his mom kissed him. Then suddenly he was gone.**

**In the estate, the parents now stood alone. Their children had begun their new lives… and their greatest adventure… together.**

**tbc**


	48. Dreams47

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Departure**

**Chapter 47**

**XLVII******

**Maria smiled in silence, as Michael wrapped her in his arms and rocked her; and both watched silently from the huge dome of the New Granolith's observatory as the blue orb called "earth," which had once been their home, grew ever and ever smaller. Nearby, Liz looked at Max, and Max smiled and hugged her. Liz sighed and leaned her head against Max's chest. Beside them, Alex and Isabel held each other and wondered at what lay ahead, and Kyle and Angie Lee watched in awe, as the earth finally became just another distant star in the sky. It was a solemn moment for those who were leaving earth for the first time. The life that they had once known was ending, and a new one was beginning. Of course, some things would still be the same; they still had each other. But almost everything else would be new. New… and unknown. The thought was at once exciting and sobering. There wasn't much to be said.**

**But if there was little to be said, there would soon be plenty to see. The couples discovered that they were fast approaching what appeared to be another planet. Liz recognized it right away. And perhaps surprisingly, Michael did, too… **

"That's Mars… the red planet," Michael asserted authoritatively. "It has that reddish color, because the surface is full of iron oxide."

**Liz smiled and nodded but appeared surprised. "Yeah, that's right! How did you know that?" **

**Michael gave Liz a sort of smirk. "I did attend class, you know… well, sometimes I did. I was there the day they talked about Mars. It looks just like the pictures. It's one of earth's two nearest planets… Mars… and Venus."**

**Max had long ago noticed that Michael tended to absorb and remember anything that had to do with the stars and planets. Unfortunately, Michael did miss quite a few science classes, but the lectures he was present for, he could probably recite word for word… even now. **

**It had taken only twelve minutes for the New Granolith to travel the forty-eight and a half million miles to Mars, and that was at sub-galactic cruising speed, a small fraction of the speed that the New Granolith was capable of. Now, almost as quickly as Mars had appeared, it was disappearing again in the distance behind them, becoming a smaller and smaller reddish dot… then finally only a distant star, as the earth had done before it.**

**With earth and Mars no longer in sight, the group finally left the observatory and joined their Antarian doubles on the bridge of the control deck. The view from the bridge wasn't quite the 360-degree view that the observatory had offered, but it was awesome nevertheless. The bridge had a very large partial surround window for the pilots to see through.**

**Approximately 342 million miles and just over forty minutes after passing Mars, the New Granolith found itself approaching another planet… Jupiter. And again, the younger Michael was the first to identify it…**

**"The largest planet of earth's solar system… Jupiter. It lies 483.6 million miles from the sun and has an equatorial diameter of 88,729 miles, compared with earth, which lies 92.9 million miles from the sun and has an equatorial diameter of just 7,926 miles. It takes 11.86 earth years to make one Jupiter year."**

**"I take it you were in class the day they talked about Jupiter," Max said with a grin.**

**"I showed up for class when I wanted to," Michael grinned back. "When the teachers were talking about something interesting, not something boring."**

**"Like Ulysses?" Maria asked.**

**"Yeah… like Ulysses," Michael replied, nodding. "Don't knock it unless you've read it."**

**"Michael, you're special," Isabel laughed. "You know so many insignificant little details about some things and you're so totally clueless about others."**

**"Like I said, don't knock it," Michael smirked. "Albert Einstein refused to memorize his own phone number, because he said it would take up space in his brain that he could better allocate to other things… and he could always look his phone number up in the phone book. I just save my brain space for more important things, like Einstein. Who needs to muck it up with a lot of boring crap like dissecting frogs or economic theories?"**

**Isabel laughed and nodded. "You may be onto something, Michael."**

**"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Alex said. "They didn't teach us that there were this many moons around Jupiter. I've already seen more than forty."**

**"Yeah… There were supposed to be only fourteen according to our science book," Michael agreed. "But I remember Mr. Munson saying that some new ones had been discovered since the book was written."**

**"A lot of new ones apparently," Alex agreed emphatically. "It'd be kind of cool to explore some of them, but they're probably made up of hot poisonous gasses or something and we'd all die as soon as we stepped out of the ship."**

**"Some of them may be," Michael concurred.**

**Standing nearby, Liz from Antar looked at Max of Antar, and her mouth dropped open…**

**"Max… do you think…?"**

**Max didn't need mind-reading abilities to guess what Liz was thinking.**

**"Well, this dimension has been like ours so far… mostly. It could be, I imagine."**

**"What could be?" the younger Michael asked.**

**"It could be that there is a small moon that you can explore," Michael's Antarian double replied.**

**"Well, I was thinking of something else," Liz said breathlessly, looking at Michael then back at her Max for support. **

**"The spheres?" Max asked.**

**Liz nodded. "They could be there, Max. It would solve so many of their problems. I know I couldn't use our spheres in this dimension, but if this dimension has its own spheres…"**

**Max appeared to think about it for a moment. "Yeah… it would solve some problems alright… and they just could be there. There's only one way to find out, though."**

**Max looked at Varec. "Varec, do we have any oxygen pills left onboard?"**

**"I can make some. It would take about an hour."**

**"Good. Make them," Max agreed. "I think we have a little moonwalk ahead of us."**

** ----------**

**The New Granolith sailed into Jupiter's gravity field… past moon after moon of different sizes and consistencies, slicing through clouds of colored gasses and brilliant shifting lights. After twenty-seven minutes of searching, the ship hovered over one moon, one that was quite small but looked comparatively benign and inviting. Max brought the ship down and set it firmly on solid ground. Then he smiled…**

**"Welcome to 'Michael's Moon.'" **

**Thirty minutes later, Max lowered the ramp from the cargo bay, and the "moonwalkers" started their long trek down the ramp to the surface. Alex checked his breathing. He wasn't. The fact is, the little moon had only a very tiny amount of breathable air on it… not enough to sustain life as we know it. But more importantly, its atmosphere was not poisoned or injurious to life as we know it either. The difference in the oxygen needed… in fact, all of the oxygen needed… was supplied directly into the bloodstream by the two time-released oxygen pills Varec had given each of them ten minutes before opening the cargo doors. These pills would last for several hours. This meant that the body had no reason or need to breathe, so it simply stopped. For the most part, not breathing wasn't very noticeable unless one thought about it. The urge to breathe is brought on normally by the build up of carbon dioxide in the blood as oxygen levels become depleted. With oxygen being continuously supplied, however, there was no CO2 build up; and therefore, no urge to breathe.**

**The younger couples walked down the ramp first… though perhaps 'bounced' would be a better description. Maria and Liz took great pleasure in leapfrogging over each other as soon as they felt the extra spring in their steps brought on by the light gravity. Pretty soon, everyone else was leaping and bouncing with them. They discovered that it was possible to jump twenty or thirty feet high and forty or fifty feet forward with very little effort. For the moment, though, no one was quite brave enough to test the limits of the moon's gravity. In the back of each one's mind was the thought that possibly… just possibly… they might jump too high and not come back down again… simply float away into space. It wouldn't have happened, but no one present wanted to find out. Max allowed the newer moonwalkers to jump and bounce around like this for about ten minutes, enjoying themselves in their new surroundings, before setting about business and gathering everyone together for the trek they were about to make. **

**The Antarian group knew this moon well. They called it "Michael's Moon." Michael of Antar found this moon in the other dimension. He proposed to Maria on this moon. And… he found the diamond that he later had set in Maria's engagement ring on this moon. He still did not know that the diamond he found, and that Maria now wore, was the "crystal" that Maya, JoLeesa, and Andya's space skimmer had lost over 12,000 years before, stranding them on this tiny moon and starting a saga in Antarian history that was only discovered when Maya's diary and pictures… and the all-important spheres… were found in a cave on this moon and brought back to Antar. The Antarians in the group had every reason to believe that if historic events unfolded the same way in this dimension as in theirs, the spheres might be on this moon, too, in this dimension. It was an exciting thought.**

**"Michael's Moon" had a total circumference of only two miles, so the other side was only about a mile away, and the New Granolith disappeared very quickly over the horizon as the group walked and bounced along toward the lost cave, led by Max and Michael of Antar. **

**In more than one way, the younger couples were reliving what their Antarian counterparts had gone through before them in their dimension… **

**"You know what, Max," Liz said, turning to Max as they walked, "You make me feel like I'm on top of the moon!"**

**Max smiled. "Yeah. Me too. And we really are, huh?"**

**"I remember the first time you let me see inside your thoughts so that I wouldn't be afraid. I saw what you felt… what you REALLY felt… about me. I couldn't believe you thought I was beautiful… Me! Liz Parker! …Small town girl from nowhere! Now look… I'm Mrs. Liz Parker Evans… happiest girl in the… in the whole universe!"**

**Max grinned. "Well, I did have to get killed and have my DNA brought all the way across seven galaxies to find you… but it was worth it! I'd do it all again…"**

**"Would you?"**

**Max nodded. "In a heartbeat!"**

**Liz looked at Max and beamed; then she kissed him.**

**"Our Michael proposed to Maria right over here… by this rock," Max of Antar explained to the group. "We call this 'Make Out Lane.' I'll let you figure out why."**

**"And over on that side of the moon," Michael said, pointing in the direction of Jupiter, "there's a rock that Max and Liz sat on watching Jupiter. We call it the 'Kissing Stone.' Anyone want to guess how that one got named?" **

**The younger Maria smiled and kissed her Michael. Then Michael pulled her down onto the rock beside him.**

**"Maybe I can't propose to you here, Maria, since we're married already, but we can, you know, consolidate our love again here."**

**Kyle grinned impishly. "Well, if you ask me, I think you guys should wait and get a room, myself."**

**Michael kissed Maria then looked at Kyle. "Don't get your hopes up, Kyle. We're not giving away the lessons you need here. You're still gonna have to get Angie Lee to show you how."**

**"Oh, like you think I don't know?" Kyle retorted.**

**Michael smiled but said nothing.**

**"I know!" Kyle said emphatically.**

**"He does," Angie Lee said, vouching for him. "He knows. He figured it out."**

**Kyle turned several shades of red. "Let's talk about something else, okay?"**

**Michael grinned. "Whatever." Then he kissed Maria again. When they opened their eyes, after a few minutes, Michael turned Maria's hand over and placed something in it. She opened her hand to look. It was a large uncut diamond.**

**"Where did you get this?" Maria gasped.**

**"I found it back there by some rocks and picked it up when we were walking here. I know you've already got a diamond ring, but we can have this one set for you as a kind of, you know, remembrance about our time here on this moon. It can be our moon, too."**

**Maria wrapped her arms tightly around Michael and kissed him passionately. With the pills Varec had given them, breathing wouldn't be necessary.**

**Max knew what this place meant to Michael and Maria, so he made no attempt to rush them. Besides, he and Liz would want to visit their own special site before they left this moon. It faced the huge planet of Jupiter. The view was awesome… and to Max and Liz, very romantic.**

**Soon, however, the group was once again on its way to the cave; and after a short ten minute walk, they were there. The cave was hidden from view in a small depression that might easily have been missed or overlooked. It was a coincidence that Jim Valenti and Kyle had found it while exploring the moon in the other dimension. **

**Turning on their lights, the couples followed Max and Michael into the shaft that led downward deep into the interior of the small moon. The depth of the cave inside the moon had probably been all that had saved fifteen-year-old Maya, Andya, and JoLeesa from being killed 12,000 years before when their little moon, the smaller and closer of earth's two moons at that time, was hit by a meteor that knocked it out of earth's orbit and sent it floating off into space to eventually be captured by the gravity of Jupiter. Unable to return to earth after the meteor strike, because their space skimmer had lost one of its crystals and didn't have enough power to counter the forces of the rapidly decaying and increasingly irregular orbit of their little moon, the girls eventually found themselves on a frightening ride through space that they believed would end in their deaths. It almost did… except for the intervention of an unexpected rescuer, Shaqor Niseel, the young prince from a distant planet called Xarius, who was on a trip with his father and grandfather to another part of the galaxy when they found the girls. That might have been the end of it, but as fate would have it, these three girls were much more important than anyone at the time knew; and their lives would prove to be intertwined with those of our heroes, especially Liz.**

**The group walked deeper and deeper down into the shaft of the cave. About half a mile into the little moon, the shaft suddenly opened up into a huge and very high room. This had been Maya, Andya, and JoLeesa's secret hideaway, where they had been when the meteor struck. Max, Michael, Liz, Maria, and the other Antarians in the group looked around the huge room. It was exactly as they remembered it in their own dimension. Would the spheres be here, too? Did Maya, Andya, and JoLeesa, in this dimension, ever come to this little moon? Did they find this cave and make it their special hideaway? Did they ever even come to earth in this dimension 12,000 years before with their parents, who were xenobiologists learning about animal life on distant planets? If everything happened… only if everything happened… then maybe…**

**Liz of Antar walked over to the far wall of the huge room and ran her hand over the wall. She wasn't sure of the exact spot where the hidden niche had been cut into the wall, but she tried to feel it. Anyone else would not have been able to… it had been sealed by 12,000 years of time. There were no longer any cracks around the opening. It was a solid wall.**

**Liz's hand stopped over one spot on the wall…**

**"I think… this may be it. I'm not sure."**

**Michael and Max began to dig and probe around the area, searching for an interior crack line around the secret niche in the solid stone wall. They soon found the crack. It was there. After several minutes, they had retraced the original cutout area around the secret compartment, then they removed the piece that served as the door. Max reached into the wall and carefully removed an old book, Maya's second diary. He placed it into a sealable container that they had brought from the ship just for this purpose. The diary was fragile. The pages could not be opened until they could be reconditioned on Antar. Any attempt to open them now would destroy the diary… it would literally crumble into dust. The special container would keep it safe until it could be reconditioned.**

**Max reached in again and took out another object. This one looked like a baby's bracelet, but it was unusually ornate and beautiful. Reaching in again, Max found a third item. It was a beautiful box made of something that looked like oak, but it wasn't the slightest bit deteriorated. They opened the box. Inside were four smooth, round balls that looked like steel but were much lighter. Each was slightly smaller than a golf ball, and each one sat cradled in its own special holder in the box.**

**"Bingo!" Michael said, as Max of Antar handed the box to the younger Liz, his wife's double from this dimension.**

**"I believe these are yours, Liz."**

**Liz looked at Max curiously but took the box in her hands.**

**"It's beautiful… but what is it, Max?"**

**"You'll see."**

**Max reached into the box and took out one of the spheres. He placed it in Liz's hand and took the box back to hold it for her.**

**"Speak to it, Liz."**

**Liz looked at Max and smiled warily. "What am I supposed to say? It's just a steel ball."**

**"Ask it what it does."**

**Liz looked at Max again, and her smile faded, turning into stunned seriousness.**

**She looked at the sphere… "What… what is your function?" **

**At first, the sphere seemed to do nothing at all, but then it began to glow with a bluish aura and floated out of Liz's hand. Liz stepped back automatically but then slowly edged forward again. That's when the sphere spoke.**

**"I am the sphere of location. My function is to locate."**

**"Locate… what?"**

**"Anything that you wish to find or that you have lost."**

**"You can tell me where anything is?"**

**"I can."**

**Liz was unsure what she should say and finally just whispered, "Okay… Thank you."**

**The sphere settled back into Liz's hand. Max replaced it in its compartment in the box and handed Liz another sphere.**

**"Ask it."**

**Liz held the sphere up. "What do you do?"**

**The second sphere began to glow almost immediately with a greenish aura then floated out of Liz's hand.**

**"I am the sphere of visions. I will show you anything that you wish to see."**

**"You can show me anything… like what?"**

**"Anything you wish."**

**"Can you… show me… my dad and mom… right now?"**

**The room shimmered, and a vision appeared. Liz clearly saw her parents, who at that moment, were flying back to Roswell from Montana. Liz swallowed in amazement. She looked at the image for several moments and reached out with her hand as though to touch it, but it wasn't really there. It was a vision. Liz started to reach for the sphere to place it back in the box, but something in the look on her mom's face made her stop. Then she saw it on her dad's face, too. It scared her. It wasn't right. Suddenly, the plane pitched to one side, and to her horror, the people on it began to be tossed around wildly.**

**"What's the matter?" Liz cried. "What's happening to them?"**

**"I cannot answer that," the sphere replied. "It is unknown to me. I merely see."**

**Liz watched in near panic as the plane began to plunge downward. She barely noticed Max of Antar holding the third of the four spheres.**

**"Try this one, Liz."**

**"Max! This is no time!"**

**"Try this one. Now!"**

**Liz held the sphere in her hand.**

**"Ask it if it is the sphere of protection, Liz."**

**"Are you?" Liz asked. **

**The sphere rose from her hand and glowed with an amber glow. "I am the sphere of protection."**

**Liz didn't need any further prodding. "Can you help the people on that plane? What's happening to it?"**

**As Liz watched, the plane leveled out again and began to fly smoothly. The passengers, who appeared to have been suddenly and unexpectedly thrown around, settled back into their seats. Bags from the bins above had fallen out into the aisles. **

**"They will arrive safely." **

**"How did you…? What did you…?" Liz stammered.**

**"There was an explosion on the craft. It lost parts."**

**"What parts?"**

**"The tail… and a wing."**

**Liz gasped then looked again at the vision. Somehow, the plane was flying… with one wing and no tail.**

**"It will arrive safely," the sphere repeated.**

**"What are you?" Liz asked. "What kind of power am I being given?"**

**"The power that Shaqor Niseel gave to MayaSabriena. I belonged to Shaqor Niseel. I was given to MayaSabriena to protect her. I answer only to her now… or to her rightful heir and descendent."**

**"Descendent?" Liz repeated. "You mean… then… I'm…"**

**"You are."**

**"Omigod," Liz said softly. "I didn't know."**

**Liz placed the sphere of protection back into the box. "Will the plane be okay if I place you back in your box?"**

**"Yes."**

**Liz wiped her eyes and took one last look at the vision then replaced the sphere of visions in its holder in the box, too. There was one sphere left. Liz removed it from the box and held it in her hand.**

**"What is your function?" she asked shakily.**

**The sphere glowed with a pure white aura and floated from Liz's hand.**

**"I am the sphere of the portal."**

**"Portal? Like… a door? To where?"**

**"Anywhere you wish to go."**

**Liz paused for a moment. "Can you… can you put me on that airplane… with my parents?"**

**"No."**

**Liz closed her eyes and sighed heavily.**

**"But I can open a portal for you to go through. You will be where you wish to go."**

**"On that plane?"**

**"If that is your wish."**

**"It is!"**

**As soon as Liz said this, something that looked like a wall of smooth water appeared in front of her. She touched it, and it rippled. Then she swallowed hard and stepped directly into it… disappearing.**

**Liz looked around her. People were crying. Jeff looked stunned as he held Nancy and tried to reassure her. He could see that the wing was gone on his side of the plane. Only a tiny stub remained… certainly not enough to fly with. Jeff knew this for a fact. How could he explain this even to himself… much less to anyone else? As he wondered about it, a hand touched him on the shoulder. Turning around, Jeff saw Liz standing there. She smiled.**

**"It's going to be okay, Dad. Everything is going to be okay."**

**Nancy looked up at her daughter and gasped. "Omigod! Liz? How…?"**

**Liz kissed her mom on the cheek. "Never mind how, mom. Just believe me. It's going to be okay."**

**Nancy nodded and wiped the tears off her face with Jeff's sleeve.**

**Liz looked around the plane at the other passengers and smiled at them reassuringly. "It's going to be okay. The plane will land safely. Everyone's going to be okay."**

**A woman in the seat beside her pulled on Liz's sleeve, and Liz turned around to look at her.**

**"Are you an angel?"**

**Liz smiled but didn't answer. The portal reappeared at that moment, and Liz stepped through it.**

**The woman leaned over toward Jeff. "That was an angel."**

**Jeff nodded and smiled. "I know."**

**Twenty minutes later, the plane landed. Those who were willing to continue on were placed on another plane, as mechanics and officials began to pour all over the damaged craft, shaking their heads in stunned amazement and looking over and again at the pilot as though he were at the very least Superman.**

**An officer patted the pilot on the back. "You had to have had some divine help with this one, Ken!"**

**"It was an angel," the lady said, walking up behind them. "We had an angel on our plane."**

**Back in the cave again, Liz placed the sphere gently back into its cradle in the mysterious box.**

**Max of Antar smiled and handed Liz the box back. "I guess you can visit your parents whenever you want to now. We need to find the original diary and the camera first, though. They should be over there in that corner of the cave somewhere. Then we need to be on our way to Antar."**

**"There's something I need to do before we go," Liz said. "Can the sphere of the portal go into the past?"**

**"Actually… I did that once," Liz of Antar said. "It can go into the past, but it doesn't work interdimensionally."**

**"Can the sphere of visions see into the past?"**

**Liz of Antar nodded.**

**"Good. Then I need to go somewhere," the younger Liz said.  
  
**

**"Go where?" Max asked.**

**"Actually, WE need to go somewhere," Liz corrected. **

**"We?" **

**Liz nodded.**

**Max looked at Liz questioningly… "Where?" **

**"Vietnam… August 18th… 1966… 5:05 PM… their time… Long Tan, northeast of Ba Ria, Phuoc Tuy Province. There'll be a heavy thunderstorm, so we'll need raincoats… and the sphere of protection."**

**For several moments, no one spoke. There was only a stunned silence in the cave.**

**tbc**


	49. Dreams48

The Night The Dreams Died 

**An Angel's Mission**

**Chapter 48**

**XLVIII******

**Max, Michael, Isabel, and even Maria were looking at Liz as though she had just lost all grip on reality. In fact, that was pretty much the essence of what Michael said when he finally spoke…**

**"Did I hear you right, Liz? Viet Nam… in the '60's? There was a war going on then! Even I know that! Going back to be in that war would not be my idea of a good time!" **

**Liz shook her head. "Maybe we won't have to fight. I'm not suggesting we stay there for any length of time or that we change history or anything… for the most part."**

**"Okay, Liz," Maria said cautiously, "When you say 'for the most part,' that just makes me think that you do intend to do something like changing history or something. You can't go back and change a war, Liz. It would be… It would be… well, I don't know what, but it just shouldn't be done."**

**"I'm not going to change anything… much. Just one little bitty thing."**

**Everyone stared at Liz, waiting for an explanation. Liz swallowed and nodded.**

**"You remember Vera… my nurse… and what happened to…"**

**Max understood immediately. "My God, Liz… You want to find her fiancé?"**

**"Why not, Max? We can do it! We can go back there and warn him right before he got killed. We know where he was and when and how it happened. All we have to do is stop it. We can bring him back here to Vera."**

**"But won't that cause problems," Kyle asked. "I mean… Vera will be… what… fifty something and her fiancé will be like nineteen or whatever. There's kind of a generation gap there."**

**Liz deflated for a moment with a groan, but her mind had an answer almost before the air was out of her lungs.**

**"It's not a problem, Kyle. We'll just SAVE him. He can return to Vera in their time. They'll both be the same age then. They can get married… have a family… and live happily ever after."**

**"And she'll never be your nurse," Kyle said, thinking about all the possible consequences.**

**"That's right," Alex agreed. "Vera may have been responsible for you surviving while you were in a coma. If your dad had got someone else to be your nurse… maybe someone who was secretly on the FBI's payroll… or just someone who didn't care as much as Vera did… you might not be here now. You could cease to exist, Liz. I'm not saying you WILL, but you could."**

**Liz closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. "Vera's not the only reason I'm still alive… but she's certainly a very big reason. And you're right. If I break ANY of the links in the chain…"**

**"You could die," Kyle said somewhat bluntly, but Liz understood… Kyle, like Alex, was only being concerned for her safety. It was a major conundrum. If Vera married her fiancé in their time, she would never become Liz's nurse. That was almost a given. And that might mean disaster for Liz. On the other hand, bringing Vera's fiancé to her in the present time would, as Kyle pointed out, be awkward because of the age differences. She would be old enough to be his mother at the very least. Liz sighed deeply, frustrated but not defeated. She refused to be defeated. This was simply too important to her, and she was not going to let it go so easily.**

**"It's possible there may be another way," the Liz from Antar said, turning to her Max. "Max, you remember in our dimension when you and Michael went back to earth and back in time to rescue Maria, Isabel, and me and you met your younger doubles in the past? You wound up merging together with your doubles after you left earth. It happened to you and Michael… and later to Kyle… Maybe Vera would, too…"**

**"Yeah, I know what you're saying," Max agreed, "but it might not work the way you're thinking. Her younger self would probably merge with her older self and she would just be the older Vera that we know now."**

**"But she might be younger after they merged," Liz insisted. "I think you were."**

**Max smiled. He always thought that he had felt younger after the merge with his younger self, but the difference in age between the younger Max and himself then had not been very great. He was actually somewhat surprised to learn now that Liz thought he had seemed younger afterwards… even if it could only have been by a few years.**

**Max shook his head, then he looked at Varec.**

**"Don't ask me," Varec said quickly. "I don't have any idea. My guess would be that if the Vera from this time and the Vera from that time got together in the same timeline they would become one in the older Vera's body… but that might not happen until their timelines crossed. In other words, there might be two Veras for thirty years or more… until time returned to the present year. Then they would become one. That is what happened to you, Max… and to Michael and Kyle. You became one after your timelines crossed… when you were returning to your own time in the New Granolith."**

**"This is so confusing," the younger Liz groaned. "Why can't it be simple? I just want to give something back to Vera after all she's done for me."**

**The younger Max put both arms around Liz and hugged her, gently wiping a tear off of Liz's cheek with his thumb and kissing her. "We understand, Liz. We'll figure something out." Max's Antarian double nodded in agreement.**

**Liz steeled her resolve and looked around her at everyone there. "We'll take Vera back with us to the past. Then we'll find her younger double in that time. We can figure out how to get them together later. We go save Andrew first."**

**Kyle raised his eyebrows and smiled ever so slightly. "Are they going to share him, Liz… or will one be his mother and the other one his wife?"**

**"I've made up my mind, Kyle. You can't change it."**

**"What if Vera doesn't want to do it?"**

**Liz stopped for a moment in her tracks. "I… I never thought of that. Of course she'll want to do it. She loved him."**

**"But does she still love him… that much," Kyle asked.**

**Liz nodded. "Vera doesn't know that I know it, but sometimes when she's napping, she has dreams… about him… about back then." Tears started to flow down Liz's cheeks. "She never married, you know."**

**Kyle nodded. "I'm… I'm sorry, Liz. I didn't mean to…"**

**"It's okay," Liz said, wiping the tears away. "We're going to fix it."**

**In the cave, there was only silence. No one was going to disagree.**

**Liz took the sphere of the portal out of the box and held it up in front of her.**

**"Does anyone here not want to go along?"**

**"What? And be left here on this little moon?" Alex asked with a smile and a twinkle in his eye. "I'm volunteering for service, Liz." The others all nodded. "Me, too," Kyle agreed. "I'm with you." **

**"We're all with you," Maria said. "Let's go save Andy's cute butt."**

**There was a bit of laughter, then Liz raised the sphere. "Take us to the ship's bridge, please." Instantaneously, the friends found themselves back on the bridge of the New Granolith.**

**"Now can you take our ship and all of us back to earth?" Liz asked, holding the sphere up again.**

**"It is done," the sphere answered. Everyone turned and looked out the window to find that the ship was sitting directly over Roswell. **

**"Holy…" Michael muttered. "That was fast!"**

**Liz held the sphere up again, but Michael interrupted…**

**"Uh, Liz… just a note of caution here… from personal experience. Use the sphere of visions first to see where she is and what she's doing. Popping in on people suddenly and unexpectedly can be… well… surprising. I know. I did a lot of travel recently using our Liz's spheres. And another thing… be very specific about where you want to go. Generalities sometimes lead to some unpleasant surprises. The sphere can't read your mind. And I think that one sphere, the portal one, has kind of a warped sense of humor. At least ours does."**

**Liz nodded and picked up the sphere of visions. "Show me Vera, please."**

**In the mist, Liz saw Vera cleaning the counter in her kitchen. Liz put the sphere of visions back in the box and took the sphere of the portal out again. "Take me to Vera… please."**

**A smooth, mirror-like apparition appeared in front of Liz. She stepped into it and disappeared, leaving momentary ripples in the air before the apparition disappeared, too, behind her. **

**Vera turned around to pick up a brush just in time to see Liz step out of thin air. In her surprise, she dropped the brush. Liz picked it up and handed it back to her.**

**"Oh, my goodness! Where did you come from, Liz? You weren't there just a minute ago."**

**Liz smiled. "I'm sorry, Vera. I didn't mean to startle you. It's a little bit of a long story. We were on our way to Max's planet… you know, Antar… when we found these spheres that can take me instantly anywhere I want to go."**

**"Something from your husband's planet?" Vera asked. "I could use one of those."**

**"I don't think they came from his planet. But you can use mine, Vera. There's something I really wanted to ask you, though. I mean… I know the answer, but… well, I need to ask you. It's kind of… unusual."**

**Vera smiled. "With you, Liz, almost everything has been unusual. I've learned to expect it. What is it you want to ask me?"**

**"If you could… if you could go back in time… and change something in your past…"**

**Vera gasped, and her eyes began to well up with tears.**

**"You're… you're not thinking what I think you're thinking, are you, Liz?"**

**"If you're thinking that what I'm thinking about is changing what happened on August 18, 1966… Yeah."**

**Vera opened her mouth but nothing came out.**

**"I'll give you time to think about it," Liz said.**

**Vera shook her head. "I don't need to think about it, Liz. I'm just… too stunned to know what to say. Of course I would do it. I would march into hell to get Andrew back… even just for one day."**

**Liz closed her eyes for a moment. "We may be marching into hell… in a very real way, Vera. I've kind of read some things about Long Tan since I met you… the battle, the rubber tree plantation and all. It WAS a kind of hell."**

**Vera nodded. "What do I need to do, Liz? I'm ready."**

**Liz held up the sphere, and it floated from her hand, glowing with a pure white glow. "Take us to the ship, please," Liz asked politely. Then, remembering Michael's admonition, she added, "…to the bridge… on the New Granolith."**

**The mirror-like wall of smooth, watery ether appeared. Liz took Vera by the hand and they stepped through it together.**

**The other Liz's sphere in the other dimension had never caused Liz any trouble whatsoever, but for unknown reasons, it seemed to take a perverse delight in playing games with Michael. It never did anything that would harm him, but it did teach him very quickly the benefits of being specific… very specific. Michael had once asked to be taken to someone, and that person happened to be in a boat on a river. He didn't specify that he wanted to be in the boat with this person, and he wound up in the river. He had always imagined that the sphere was laughing silently as he climbed into the boat, soaking wet, but he knew that it could just as well have been totally innocent. After all, the sphere could not have known that he wanted to be IN the boat. And it did take him to the person he requested. There had been other incidents, too. But it had never done anything like that to Liz. And as far as Michael knew, it had never done anything like that to Diane either, and she had used the sphere extensively, with Liz's blessing, to travel back and forth from Antar to earth with her husband, Dan Klein. Still, Michael felt that it was only fair to warn the younger Liz. It might prevent some embarrassing or awkward moments for her. During Michael's travels, another Liz had once used the sphere to find Michael and had wound up popping in on him when he was standing in the men's room of a restaurant on earth; but again, the embarrassed party then had been mostly him. Liz had taken it totally in stride. He always wondered how the sphere knew and just what it had against him.**

**On the bridge of the New Granolith, the portal opened and Liz and Vera stepped out. Vera looked around at her new surroundings. She recognized them. She had been on the bridge before, including the day of Liz's wedding.**

**"Where are we… your ship, I mean? Did we go to Antar?"**

**Liz laughed. "No. But I guess we could have. The ship is back over Roswell right now."**

**"That was incredible, Liz! We just walked into that… whatever it was and came out in a whole different place. You think I could get one of these things?"**

**"I don't think there are any more, Vera. I don't know. But you can use mine anytime you want."**

**"You're sweet, Liz. But I was only joking. If I popped into a store or some other public place out of thin air I'd have more explaining to do than I could handle."**

**"It CAN be hard to explain," Michael agreed.**

**"Okay, let's make a plan," Liz said, determined and anxious to get down to the task at hand. "I think Max and Michael and I should go through the portal, find Andrew, and bring him back here to the ship."**

**"It might be better to let the portal take the new Granolith there," Max of Antar said. "Our Michael and I can then go down and find Andrew."**

**"Not without me," Liz said. Max knew better than anyone not to argue with the younger Liz. She was, after all, his wife's double.**

**"This is something that our group needs to do," Liz said to Max of Antar. "Why don't you and your group stay on the ship and protect us from up here. You know the ship and its systems better than we do."**

**Max nodded. "I don't like letting you walk into danger like that, though, Liz."**

**"I'll have the sphere of protection… and you up here protecting me."**

**Max couldn't argue with that, but he still felt uneasy about Liz going into danger with only the younger Max and Michael with her… and the sphere. Then again… with the sphere in their possession, they might have better protection than the ones left on the ship. Max wasn't really worried about the ship, though. It had plenty of stealth systems and protective devices. It wouldn't even be seen by anyone on the ground.**

**"Alright. The three of you can go… with the sphere of protection. We'll watch from the ship."**

**Liz smiled and raised the sphere of the portal in her hand. "Take this ship and everyone in it to Long Tan in Vietnam, please… and back in time to August 18, 1966… about 5 o'clock PM. Leave the ship in the sky above the area where the battle is going on. It's a rubber plantation."**

**There was a short pause of about six seconds before the sphere spoke. "It is done."**

**Silence came over the bridge, as everyone looked out the huge anterior window. There was a flash of lightning, then another. Rain was falling in torrents all around them. It was impossible to see the ground… or anything else for that matter… through the window. The clouds were dark and hung low in the sky.**

**"We came out in the middle of a friggin' hurricane," Michael exclaimed.**

**"It's not a hurricane," Liz said. "It's just a bad thunderstorm. We're going to need some raingear."**

**Max of Antar hurried to get some protective, waterproof gear from the New Granolith's supply room for the younger Max, Michael, and Liz. Each of them put it on. Then Liz held up the sphere of the portal. She paused, then put it down and picked up the sphere of visions. It floated from her hand, glowing with a greenish glow.**

**"Show me Andrew McClane please," Liz said.**

**A mist appeared, and in it they saw a young man crouched behind a small rise with some others. He was soaked from the rain, and his hair hung down over his forehead. He was wearing a military outfit and carrying a rifle, but he had no specific raingear.**

**Vera reached out as though to touch him, but it was only a vision.**

**"Is that him," Isabel asked. "He looks a lot like Michael."**

**"I was just thinking the same thing," Alex said.**

**"He doesn't look like Michael to me," Maria said. "Well… maybe just a little bit, but Michael has kind of a… I don't know what… a different… something."**

**Vera smiled at Maria and nodded. "I was thinking the same thing about Andrew."**

**"Well, he could be Michael's brother easily," Angie Lee said. "I see a lot of resemblance. And he's cute."**

**"Now that I'll agree with," Vera said, smiling.**

**Liz held the sphere of protection up, and it floated from her hand, glowing with an amber glow.**

**"Please provide protection for Max, Michael, and me while we rescue Andrew." Then she held up the sphere of the portal. "Please take Max, Michael, and me to Andrew."**

**The mirror-like wall appeared, and Liz stepped through it, followed quickly by Max and Michael. As she stepped out, a tremendous thunderclap exploded and a bright flash momentarily blinded her. Then something hit her hard. Liz tumbled to the ground, rolling from the force of the hit. She came to rest on her back, looking into a face that did look eerily, though not exactly, like Michael's.**

**"By jingoes, girl! You could 'ave got yer'self killed out there! Where in the name of God did you come from? You don't belong 'ere! It's London to a brick that no digger that didn't 'ave kangaroos loose in the top paddock would be waltzin' Matilda out there in the rain with mortars bein' shot at 'im… or her… as the case may be." He looked Liz over. "Are you with the nurses unit? 'ow did you get out 'ere anyway?"**

**Liz stared into the young man's face, too stunned to speak.**

**"I 'ad t' grab you kinda hard t' pull you t' safety. Sorry 'bout that 'n' all. I 'ope yer not hurt."**

**Liz shook her head. At that moment, two more people jumped into the pit behind the small rise. It was Max and Michael. **

**"Are you alright, Liz," Max asked, breathless and clearly worried.**

**"Yeah… I'm fine. I wasn't hurt. I'll be okay. It just… surprised me. That's all."**

**Andrew nodded. "No worries. She'll be apples. Where did you blokes come from? You're no' with D Company."**

**"Why are you talking like that crocodile guy," Michael asked, ignoring Andrew's question.**

**"W'at crocodile bloke, mate?" Andrew asked.**

**"Oh wait, forget that." Michael shook his head. "He probably hasn't been born yet… or he's still a baby or a little kid."**

**Andrew stared at Michael for a moment then nodded. "Shell shock. You've gone drongo. It 'appens, mate. We can get you fixed up when we get back to the base at Nui Dat… if we get back."**

**"Well, that's kind of why we're here," Liz said. "You won't be going back to the base, Andrew."**

**"'ow do you know my name? What do you mean, I wo' be goin' back?"**

**Liz took a deep breath. "This is going to sound crazy, I know, but we're not exactly from around here."**

**"Well, I Know yer no' from our regiment. You talk funny."**

**"You're the one who talks funny," Michael said. "Are you Australian or what?"**

**"Aussie, mate… from Oz… fair dinkum! We all are," Andrew replied. "Down Under… The Lucky Country… Don't you know that?"**

**Michael shook his head. "I didn't know any Australians fought in Viet Nam. Or was Viet Nam an Australian thing in this dimension?"  
  
**

**"Yer worse shocked than I thought," Andrew said. "Or did you get yer 'ead clocked, too? Here, le' me see."**

**Michael pulled back. "There's nothing wrong with my head. The Viet Nam war was between the United States and the Viet Cong and some other Vietnamese."**

**Andrew nodded. "Charlie's out there. "Who do you think's lobbing those mortars at us?"**

**"Charlie?"**

**"The VC… Viet Cong. Don't you remember anything, mate?"**

**"Oh… yeah."**

**Liz nodded. "Michael, this is D Company, 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment. They were here, too. They're our allies."**

**"No joke? I never knew… I mean, I knew you were our allies, but… I never knew you fought in Viet Nam."**

**"Fight!" Andrew said. "Present tense, mate! We're in the figh' right now! 'ow do you think yer 'ead got hurt?"**

**"My head didn't get hurt," Michael insisted. "I'm just from the future."**

**Andrew smiled. "It's okay, mate. I've been there."**

**"To the future?"**

**"No. 'ad me 'ead clocked."**

**"My head is just fine!" Michael insisted emphatically.**

**"Good onya, mate! Keep sayin' that. It'll 'elp you get well in a tic."**

**"Andrew," Liz said, interrupting him, as she ducked down to stay under the merciless barrage of automatic weapons fire and mortar shells coming from the trees not far away. D Company seemed to be surrounded. Andrew took the occasion to fire off several shots in the direction the mortars had come from then settled back behind his bluff to reload.**

**"Andrew, we came to get you," Liz said. "We're taking you out of here… to Vera."**

**Andrew turned and looked at Liz with a shocked look. "You know Vera?"**

**Liz nodded.**

**"Well… I… I don't know how you know Vera, but I'm no' leavin' 'ere. I've got me mates to think of. I've got me country to think of. Sixteen of me mates 'ave carked it already today. They need me righ' now more than ever. I canno' just abandon them."**

**"I know," Liz said, touching Andrew on the shoulder. "But you can't stay, Andrew. You're going to… you're going to… get killed."**

**"'ow would you know that?"**

**"Michael told you… we're from the future. We know everything that happened here… everything that's going to happen here."**

**Andrew looked at Liz, and a look of concern came over his face.**

**"How many of me mates will die today, then… if you really know these things?"**

**"Seventeen from D Company die… and one from the 1st APC Squadron… before B Company comes to your aid and together you finish off the enemy out there."**

**"Ah, well, you see then! One more of me mates is still going to cark it. 'e'll need me. 'ow can I leave now even if you are what you say you are?"**

**A thunderous explosion suddenly came from a stand of rubber trees in the distance, and Andrew glimpsed a flash of light heading in their direction. He shoved Liz down hard to protect her and leapt from his knoll, his rifle blazing, knowing that they were directly in the path of the oncoming mortar shell. But there was no time to escape. Perhaps he hoped against all odds to shoot it out of the air, as impossible as that would have been; but whatever motivated him, time suddenly just stopped. The mortar shell, which had been screaming toward him, suddenly hovered still and silent in the air only six feet away. Andrew looked around. None of his mates were moving. Time just seemed to have come to a standstill… but not, it would seem, for everyone.**

**Liz stood up, then Max and Michael stood up with her, and they walked to where Andrew stood. Andrew turned and looked at the mortar shell hanging in the air. He reached out and touched it. It made him shiver. He tried to pull it out of the air, but it wouldn't budge. It was locked in time. Andrew turned and looked at Liz again…**

**"I've… I've touched death. Who are you? Did you do this?" **

**Liz nodded. "Seventeen, Andrew. Seventeen die here today from your company. Sixteen have died already…"**

**It began to dawn on Andrew what Liz was saying. "You mean… I'm the one." Andrew touched the mortar shell again. "It's coming for me, isn't it?"**

**Liz nodded.**

**"I'm number seventeen."**

**Liz nodded.**

**"My God… What should I do?"**

**"You've already given your country and your mates all that you have to give, Andrew… all but one thing."**

**"My life?"**

**Liz nodded again. "There is nothing more that you have to give them… nothing more that you CAN give them. But you can live. You and Vera can live… together. Do you love her?"**

**"What kind of question is that? Of course I love her! I would die a thousand deaths for her!**

**"Then will you live for her?"**

**Andrew looked at the mortar shell suspended in time again then back at his mates. The mortar shell was heading directly where he had been crouched behind his small ridge. Sixteen of his company had died already today. If he did not die, sixteen would be the final tally… at least, the real final tally. Who could tell what the records would say if he should disappear. But if he refused to go, the real final tally would be seventeen of his company killed there that day. Andrew nodded.**

**"I'll go with you."**

**Liz smiled and raised her hand. She opened her fingers, and the sphere of the portal floated up, glowing with a pure white glow in the falling rain that was frozen in time around them like everything else.**

**"Please take Max, Michael, Andrew, and me to the bridge of the New Granolith."**

**A shimmering, mirror-like essence appeared in front of them. Liz held out her hand to Andrew, and he took it, then she stepped into the portal. Andrew stepped through after her, still holding onto her hand. Max and Michael followed them through immediately, as behind them, time suddenly resumed. One second later, a huge explosion blew a twenty-foot wide crater in the ground behind the ridge that Andrew had been using for protection. When the others searched for him later, there was nothing to be found. That day, the records recorded seventeen deaths from D Company at Long Tan.**

**On the bridge of the New Granolith, it was another story. Life was being celebrated… the life of one Andrew McClane, a 19-year-old Aussie "digger" whose time had finally NOT come.**

**Standing nearby, Vera smiled from ear to ear, but she knew that it was not the time yet. No one knew when the right time would be, but that didn't much matter right now. Andrew was alive! Andrew looked around at the smiling faces on the bridge. He looked at the instruments, the huge anterior window, and all the strange things that were almost unimaginable to his mind. And he looked at Vera.**

**"You look like someone I know."**

**Vera smiled. "Who would that be?"**

**Andrew shook his head. "I… I'm no' sure. You look quite a bit like… my Vera… only older. Beg yours, an' I 'ope you don't mind me sayin' so, but for someone… you know… older 'n' all… you're somethin' of a spunk. I guess it's 'cause you look like my Vera."**

**Vera grinned. "It's probably coincidence. A lot of people tell me I look like someone they know."**

**Vera knew that her younger double was alive in this timeline. Andrew would… indeed should… go to her. Vera wasn't sure where this would leave her, but she felt in her heart that it was the right thing. She was old enough to be his mother… almost old enough to be his grandmother. It would have to be enough, hard as it was for her heart, to just know, for now, that he was alive and safe.**

**Andrew yawned. "I didn't realize how nackered I am. Do you think I could push up some zeds… just for a few tics?"**

**Liz looked at Vera. **

**"He'd like to take a short nap. He's exhausted," Vera said.**

**Liz smiled. Max answered for them. "I'll show you to a room. Will you be interested in eating with us later?"**

**"Reckon, mate! I don't require much sleep. An hour or two will be sufficient. I am a bit hungry. All I've 'ad today was a dingo's breakfast."**

**"What's a dingo's breakfast," Alex asked.**

**Andrew smiled wearily. "A yawn, a leak, and a lookaround… nothin' t' eat… no brekkie. Like a dingo wakin' up, you know."**

**Alex laughed. **

**Max led Andrew to the ascension chamber then to a room on the 3rd level, where the living chambers were.**

**"I'll have someone give you a holler when it's time for dinner, Andrew. We eat in about three hours."**

**Andrew nodded wearily and smiled then thanked Max and closed the door. Meanwhile, on the bridge, Liz was laying plans to get the younger Vera from this timeline onboard with her future self and Andrew.**

**"Liz, what happened down there," Michael asked. "I saw you get knocked down on the ground when you stepped out of the portal. I thought the sphere of protection was supposed to protect you."**

**Liz nodded. "I guess it did. Andrew wasn't trying to hurt me; he was trying to save me. He didn't know that I had the sphere to protect me. I expect the sphere knew that he wasn't a danger to me. Anyway, I wasn't hurt. And when that mortar shell was fired, the sphere stopped time so that we could escape. It did its job, I'd say."**

**"Yeah… I guess it did at that," Michael agreed. "You never told me that Vera's fiancé was Australian. How did she ever meet him?"**

**"Vera grew up in Australia, Michael."**

**"She doesn't talk like him. She talks like us."**

**"She's lived in Roswell for more than thirty years… since shortly after Andrew was killed. She learned to talk the way we do. She was born in Roswell, though. Her parents moved to Australia when she was four."**

**"Oh."**

**"Michael, tell Max when he comes back that I've gone to get Vera… the one from this timeline."**

**Without waiting for any argument or opposition, Liz held up the sphere of the portal. "Please take me to wherever Vera Simpson is… the one from this timeline."**

**The portal appeared, and Liz immediately stepped through it. She stepped out on a beach on the Australian coast. Not far away, a young woman about Liz's own age lay on the sand under the shade of a small bluff. Liz approached her and looked at her. She was quite pretty… and young. Liz knew in her heart that this was Vera. Noticing someone standing there, the young woman looked up… **

**"Hi!" **

**Liz smiled. "Hi! I'm Liz."**

**"I'm Vera. Glad t' know ya."**

**"Can I sit down?"**

**"Sure. Help yourself. Are you American? You don't sound like an Aussie."**

**"Yeah," Liz replied with a smile.**

**"Me, too. But I've lived here all my life almost… since I was four. Where you from? What state?"**

**"New Mexico." **

**"Yeah? Me, too! My parents were from New Mexico. I was born there, but now I'm a fair dinkum Ozzie… that's Aussie to you," Vera laughed. "A dinky-di. That means the genuine item here in the Down Under… The Down Under, that's Australia, the Lucky Country, Oz… You know, Ozzie… Oz. We have a lot of groovy slang in Oz."**

**"Don't I know it," Liz agreed, nodding.**

**"Are you new here, Liz?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Well, you'll learn to understand Strine… that's Australian… if you're here long. It grows on ya."**

**Liz nodded. "I know. I'm getting quite an education already, believe me."**

**Vera laughed. **

**"Why did you come Down Under, Liz? Are you on vaca… you know, vacation… holiday?"**

**"No, not really. I sort of have some business here."**

**"Ooh! Business! You look a little young to be a bizzo! What do you do?"**

**"Ummmm… you wouldn't believe me, Vera."**

**"Try me."**

**"Okay. I'm going to be the new queen… on my husband's planet. He's the king there."**

**Vera giggled. "You're right. I don't believe you. But you've got a nice fantasy life! Why are you really here?"**

**Liz looked Vera straight in the eyes… "for Andrew."**

**Vera was quiet for several seconds, then she rolled over to face Liz directly.**

**"What do you know about Andrew? Andrew's my fiancé. I think you should know that. He's not interested in other girls, Liz. He loves me… and I love him. When he finishes his time in Vietnam we're getting married."**

**"Oh, I didn't mean… don't get me wrong, Vera… I don't want to take Andrew away from you."**

**Vera seemed to relax, then she smiled. "It's okay, Liz. I'm sorry. I'm just a worrier these days with Andrew away in war 'n' all. I know he'll come back to me, but… I worry about him all the time. You know?"**

**Liz nodded. "I know." **

**Vera looked at Liz again, and a serious expression came over her face. "Tell me again how it is you know Andrew, Liz. Did you meet him somewhere? It must have been before he went to war, of course."**

**Liz took a deep breath. "Vera, I've been trying to figure out how to tell you that ever since I got here… and I still don't know how. I think the best thing would be if I just show you."**

**Liz took out the sphere of the portal. Vera sat up and looked at it curiously. "What is that?"**

**"You'll see," Liz replied. The sphere began to glow with a pure white glow and floated out of Liz's hand. Vera gasped in surprise.**

**"Please take Vera and me to the bridge of the New Granolith," Liz said softly. Almost instantaneously, the portal appeared. Vera jumped up and backed away reflexively but then edged cautiously toward the apparition to have a look at the mirror-like, ethereal surface hanging almost invisibly in the air. She touched it with one finger and it rippled.**

**"Liz?"**

**"Come on. I'll explain it to you, Vera… on the other side." Liz held out her hand, and Vera, eyes wide, took it hesitantly and stepped through the portal with Liz. She wasn't sure why she did it. It might have been pure curiosity. It might have been because, for some reason that she didn't yet understand, she trusted Liz. It might have been because Liz invoked Andrew's name. But whatever it was, Vera knew immediately that she had taken a fateful step. When they stepped out of the portal, they were no longer on the beach. In fact, Vera was pretty sure that they were no longer even in Australia. She looked around, in a state of something between awe and shock. She looked at the control panels, the window… the town below.**

**"Where ARE we, Liz? That's not Oz down there."**

**Liz smiled. "No, it's not, Dorothy."**

**"Huh? Oh, right!"**

**Liz laughed. "And that's not Kansas down there, either, Vera. We're in a spaceship. Right now we're over Roswell, New Mexico."**

**Vera nodded. "That'd be right! So those stories are all true then… about Roswell, I mean?"**

**"Well… actually… kinda… yeah," Liz admitted.**

**Vera stared out the window at the town below. "So you really are… going to be a queen on your husband's planet?"**

**Liz nodded. "If everything goes right."**

**"You married an alien?"**

**Liz smiled. "I guess so. But he hides his antennas under a hat, and he keeps his third eye closed whenever he's around me so I won't feel weird… especially when we're making love."**

**"Crikey!"**

**Liz giggled. "I'm teasing. He looks just like us. Actually, he's part human… and VERY cute. You'll meet him… as soon as he gets back to the bridge."**

**"Oh, well… who cares if he's an alien, I reckon… so long as he's a spunk," Vera said with a wink.**

**"That's right," Liz nodded emphatically. "And he's definitely a spunk. That does mean he's a cute guy, right?"**

**"Too Right. A guy… or a girl, either one. A good looker."**

**"That's what I thought."**

**As they spoke, Michael, Max, and the older Vera came into the room. Seeing Michael, the younger Vera gasped. Then she immediately relaxed again.**

**"Oh, you're no'… Just for a tic, I thought you were…"**

**"Andrew?" Liz asked softly.**

**"'ow did you know? Oh, right! You knew Andrew."**

**"I've been told… by some people… that there's a resemblance," Liz said.**

**"Well… now that I look at 'im, not so much," Vera insisted. "Maybe… in the hair… and the eyes… and the build… generally speaking. But he isn't Andrew."**

**"That's what I told them," Maria said, walking in on the conversation and taking Michael by the arm. "This is Michael. He's my husband. I'm Maria. I take it you must be Vera?"**

**"Glad to meet ya," Vera said, smiling.**

**"And this is my husband, Max," Liz said, indicating Max, who was standing beside her now.**

**"Oh! The three-eyed bunyip," Vera said with a grin. "Glad to meet ya, too. So you're His Nibs, huh?"**

**"Bunyip?" Max asked.**

**"Yeah, that's a sort of mythological monster that inhabits the billabongs," Vera said.**

**Max looked at Liz, and Liz smiled.**

**"What does 'His Nibs' mean," Max asked.**

**"The boss. The big bloke at the top. You know," Vera replied.**

**Michael chuckled. "Yep! That's His Nibs alright!"**

**Max gave Michael a stern look, and Michael chuckled to himself, obviously enjoying it very much.**

**"Actually," Vera said, "Liz was quite right!"**

**"I'm a three-eyed… what-is-it… bunyip?" Max asked.**

**"No. You're a spunk."**

**"I can't wait to find out what that is," Max said.**

**"It's a good looker. A real cute bloke… or girl."**

**Max smiled. "For a three-eyed billabong monster, you mean?" **

**Liz giggled and kissed Max. "For the guy I married and love more than anything in the world or the whole universe! The three-eyed monster thing was a joke. But as for the spunk part, I'm sticking to that."**

**Max smiled. He knew Liz had been teasing. And he would have loved her even if he had been a three-eyed bunyip. Fortunately for everyone, he wasn't.**

**Vera walked over to her older double. "I don't believe I met you yet. I'm Vera. You remind me a bit of me mum… She's… well…"**

**"I know," the older Vera said, "Both of your parents… when you were fifteen. You've lived with an aunt since they died in the boat accident."**

**"You know a lot about me!" Vera said, unsure how to take it and feeling just a bit offended. **

**"The older Vera smiled and nodded. "I know about your aunt, too."**

**The younger Vera stared at her older double. " 'ow could you know that? What do you know?"**

**"She's… well, I don't like to say it, because she did give you a place to live and food to eat, even if it was the leftovers… but she isn't the nicest person in the Lucky Country."**

**"No… she isn't," the younger Vera agreed. "But like you said, she gave me a roof and tea. Not very willingly, I guess, but she was me dad's sister. Then again, she wasn't his real sister, though. She was adopted, so she wasn't related, you know, by blood."**

**"But your grandparents gave her a good home and love and everything they gave their other children," the older Vera said. "She should have given you that much."**

**"It's no' important," the younger Vera said. "I can make it on me own. Besides, when Andrew returns, 'e's taking me away. We're goin' t' be married." **

**The older Vera nodded understandingly. "I thought that once… But then my fiancé died in the war and didn't come back… and I left my aunt's house one night in the middle of the night and went to America. You know, she never even looked for me. I could have been dead. I think she was just happy that I was gone."**

**"Sounds like my aunt," the younger Vera said, beginning to show a great affection and affinity for the older woman. "We share so much in common." She put one arm around the older woman to comfort her and smiled through misty eyes. "I'm so sorry about your fiancé! I feel like… I know you somehow. We're both so very much alike the two of us."**

**"Yes… we are… and maybe you do," the older Vera said, "…better than you think." **

**"How do you mean?"**

**"I mean that… I am you, Vera… only about thirty-eight years in the future. I came back in time to find you… and Andrew."**

**For several moments, the younger Vera stood motionless and silent, staring at the older woman. In some way, she knew that what the older woman had said was true. Then her mind shifted to Andrew.**

**"Oh, God! Andrew! What you're sayin' then… Andrew never… never came home from the war? No! Don't tell me that! Tell me he's okay! Tell me he's alive! Please!"**

**"I'm okay." **

**The words came from the entrance to the bridge room. The young Vera spun around quickly, recognizing the voice. In less time than it took to blink once, she was in his arms.**

**"Oh, God, Andrew! I was afraid you mi' not come back to me."**

**Andrew held Vera tightly and soothed her, running his hands up and down her back and arms, kissing her, hugging her, caressing her.**

**"You know what the hardest thing was bein' away at war, Vera? Not bein' able to ge' a good pash from me fiancée, that's what."**

**Vera nodded and took his face in both of her hands lovingly. "I'll make up for it, Andy." Then she kissed him… long and passionately.**

**"That's a pash," the older Vera said, smiling. Liz smiled back and raised her eyebrows. Angie Lee was fanning her face with her hand. Maria was just grinning.**

**But Liz realized that, for one person present, at least, the present situation might be unexpectedly torturous, despite the happy face that was being put on. Certainly, the older Vera… the very one Liz had hoped to help in the first place… could not possibly NOT be conflicted, at the very least, as she watched her younger double kiss her former fiancé, unable to touch him herself… unable to tell him that she loved him… unable to rejoice with him at his being alive. It was a situation that Liz hoped to correct as soon as possible. But how to do it was still uncertain, and even more uncertain was the question of whether or not any actions they took now would have the desired effect.**

**Liz looked at the woman who had been a nurse and a friend to her and suddenly felt a deep feeling of sympathy for her. Vera recognized it immediately.**

**"Oh, Liz… Don't be sorry. I knew from the start that this wasn't going to be easy. But it's okay. The important thing is we got Andrew back alive and safe. Even if I never get to hold him… just that he's alive… and happy… that by itself makes it all worthwhile to me."**

**"But you deserve to get him back, Vera. He's your fiancé!"**

**"He's HER fiancé, Liz. Look at them. It's the right thing for them."**

**"But… but, Vera…"**

**"No, now don't give me any 'buts,' Liz! Besides, remember that she is me… and I am her thirty-eight years from now. You see, Liz, I figure that in thirty-eight years her memories will be my memories, too. If I have to wait that long, well… I've waited that long already. I guess I can wait another thirty-eight years."**

**"No." Liz shook her head emphatically. "No, that's not the way it's going to be, Vera. It's just not…"**

**While they were talking, Liz hadn't noticed that Andrew had walked over to her and the older Vera. He was still holding the younger Vera by the hand. The older Vera smiled at them, and Andrew returned the smile…**

**"I heard you talking when I was coming in. I don't completely understand what I heard, but I know now why you looked so familiar to me… and… well… why I felt… attracted to you… in spite of our ages. I don't know how all this happened, but I do know who you are. Did you think I would never figure it out, Vera? How could I not? You're a beautiful woman. You're beautiful young… and you're still beautiful older. You'll be beautiful fifty years from now to me… if we're both still alive then. It's not just because of your looks that I love you, Vera… it's because… it's because you're you."**

**Vera's eyes misted up, and she choked for a moment. **

**"Oh, Andrew… I love you, too. You know that. And I always will, till the day I die… and longer if that's possible. But you were meant to be with someone young… like you. It's only right. You can't be with both of us…" Vera laughed at the thought, but it was a sad laugh. "It would be hard to explain… and besides, she wouldn't want to share you. I know. She's me." Vera put one hand on Andrew's cheek and kissed him on the other cheek lovingly. Andrew closed his eyes.**

**"Well, you're right about one thing, Vera. I do want both of you… but not separated like this. I want ONE Vera… and I want ALL of her. You see, there is only ONE of you for me. You can't go on living in two times at once, Vera."**

**"But if there's nothing that can be done about it, Andy… we will have to accept that reality."**

**"Maybe not," Liz said. "Our theory is that if we return to the future that we came from with Andrew and both of you with us, At some point in time, as we're going back, the two of you, Vera, will become one."**

**"But the question is, which one," the older Vera added sadly. "That's a risk that you cannot take, Andrew. You could wind up with an old woman for a bride."**

**Andrew looked at the younger Vera holding onto his hand. She was beautiful, young, and vibrant. He looked at the other Vera. She was still beautiful… and vibrant… but not so young anymore. **

**Vera nodded. "You see, Andrew. Time takes its due. You could go with us back to the future, but you… and your fiancée… would be taking a terrible risk. Or you can stay here in this time and have the certainty that the two of you can be together for the rest of your lives… and you won't be risking having to be married to an old woman."**

**"And what will happen to you then," Andrew asked. "If I stay here and marry Vera, will I no' be changing your future, too, Vera?"**

**"It may be for the better, Andrew… if you're in it."**

**"That is one possibility," admitted Varec, who had come into the room moments before. "But it is also possible that there will always be two separate Veras if the two of you go separate ways in different timelines. Your timelines will never cross, because you will always be thirty-eight years ahead of them in time. As they get closer to our present, you will be getting further away from it… further into the future."**

**"Then I'll stay in this timeline," Vera said. "If I stay here, in thirty-eight years there will be only one of me… right?"**

**Varec nodded. "That is probably true… but you will be ninety-six years old. If you were a Nogi-K'ya… or even a Xarian… I would say that would not be a problem. But you are human."**

**"Thank you, Varec. I never thought of that as a handicap before," Vera sighed dejectedly.**

**"Well, has anyone thought of this," Andrew asked. "I 'ave officially gone walkabout from me unit. Now that I am back in Oz and no' with official leave papers, I will either be cactus or AWOL. I could try telling the army that I was taken by a spaceship that came from the future, of course. Maybe they will believe me. But I do no' think so. If I am discovered, it's London to a brick what my fate will be. I may ge' out of prison in time for your ninetieth birthday, Vera. How can I offer you a life under these conditions?"**

**"I… I didn't think of that," the older Vera said apologetically. "Andrew, I'm so sorry."**

**"No, do no' apologize, Vera. If you had not come, I would be cactus, bloody oath, so I consider the alternative quite reasonable, and I am grateful to all of you for saving me, but I must be realistic. I canno' live in Oz now that I am gone walkabout from me unit."**

**"What will you do," Maria asked.**

**Andrew sighed deeply and looked at the young Vera, who was still holding onto his hand. Vera nodded understandingly and smiled…**

**"I think what Andrew is saying is that we will be going with you… to the future."**

**Andrew smiled at Vera and kissed her. "Will you be okay… if we go?" he asked.**

**Vera nodded. "She'll be apples, Andy. We'll be together you and I… no matter what. It's the ONLY thing that's important."**

**"But what if you become… older, Vera?"**

**Vera looked into Andrew's eyes. "Would you still love me… if I did?"**

**"Too right! Do you even need to ask?"**

**Vera shook her head and smiled. "No… not at all. That's why I'm ready to go with you… even if it's back of Bourke and beyond the black stump."**

**Liz smiled and looked at the older Vera. She was smiling, too. Clearly, Liz's nurse and friend was happier about this turn of events than she was willing to admit. She would never have agreed to let Andrew risk his happiness to go to the future with them for her sake, but now that had all changed. Andrew was right. If he stayed in Australia, and was discovered, he would be considered a deserter and would almost certainly go to prison. No amount of trying to explain what had happened would be believed. It might allow him to spend his sentence in an insane asylum, but it certainly wouldn't permit him to have the life that he and the younger Vera both longed for. Their only real hope for happiness was to go.**

**Liz held the sphere of the portal up in her hand and opened her fingers. The sphere floated from her hand, glowing with a pure white glow.**

**"Please take this ship and everyone in it back to Roswell in the time that we came from," Liz said.**

**There was, as before, a brief pause, but it was slightly longer than the six seconds that the sphere had taken to send the New Granolith back to the past. This time, the pause was closer to fifteen seconds. It was long enough for Liz to briefly begin to wonder if something had gone wrong.**

**"It is done," the sphere answered. Liz exhaled with relief and looked at Andrew. He was still holding the young Vera by the hand. Liz turned around but didn't see the other Vera, her former nurse, anywhere. She looked back at Andrew and his fiancée. They were embraced in a kiss. Liz smiled and shook her head… "Now that's a pash." After several long moments, the two separated, and Andrew's fiancée smiled at Liz. It was a smile that Liz recognized. Liz smiled, too, and arched her eyebrows.**

**"I'm afraid to look in a mirror, Liz. Tell me the truth. Am I… you know…"**

**"Beautiful," Liz said. "You're totally beautiful, Vera."**

**"She was always that," Andrew said, beaming.**

**Liz nodded in agreement. "She was, wasn't she. Can you handle being nineteen again, Vera?"**

**Vera grinned. "A part of me never stopped being nineteen, Liz. But I admit, some part of me feels a bit odd."**

**"Must be the pash," Liz replied with a grin.**

**Vera looked at Andrew and smiled broadly. "That could be it, Liz. I'll need to test that theory for a while. Andy and I may need a lot of time in private…"**

**"For the benefit of science," Andrew said, finishing the thought for her.**

**"For the benefit of science," Liz nodded with a wink. "Come on everyone. Let's not get in the way of science." **

**Maria smiled in agreement, then everyone left the room, leaving Andrew and Vera on the bridge alone with an incredible view of Roswell visible from the bridge's huge anterior window. But at the moment, neither of them was paying any attention to anything outside.**

** ----------**

**"Take good care of Vera," Max said, extending his hand to Andrew. Andrew took it and shook it, then he turned to Liz and hugged her. "I will. No worries, your majesty."**

**Max smiled. "We can lose the 'majesty' stuff, Andrew. I'm just Max here."**

**Andrew nodded, as Vera hugged Liz and kissed her warmly.**

**"Liz, how can I ever, ever, ever thank you…?"**

**Liz beamed. "You just did, Vera. I just wanted your happiness. That's all I ever needed."**

**"Well, you succeeded beyond your wildest imagination. I want you to know that. You'll always be special to me, Liz… to both of us."**

**"Awww… you'll always be special to me, too, Vera… both of you will. If you hadn't been my nurse when I was in a coma, I probably would have died. So I really do owe you everything."**

**"That's right," Max added. "And I want you to know that you have my eternal gratitude, too, Vera."**

**"It was nothing… It's just who I am. Besides, Liz was a big inspiration to me. She's special, Max. Take real good care of her."**

**Max nodded and smiled. "You know it."**

**Andrew nodded, too. "Well, I'm certainly glad you have such good connections here, Max. Your president was able to give us a complete identity… and using our real names. We're citizens… with a history and everything. We can live freely here in this country, and I can give Vera all the things I always dreamed of giving her. We'll raise a family, and if we have a girl, I promise, we'll name her Liz; if it's a boy, we'll name him Maxwell."**

**"I'm honored," Max said in total sincerity. "After thirty-eight years, no one is going to think that a nineteen-year-old was in Vietnam in 1966… even if he has the same name… so we felt that it would be okay to keep your real name. Vera had an identity here already, but we had to invent an explanation for the age difference. That's why we said that she's the other Vera's niece and was named after her, and that the other Vera moved to another state and left her niece in charge of her affairs here."**

**"I appreciate that, too," Andrew said. "I am very happy to be able to keep my real name. You and your president… and your friends on the ship… have all been so very wonderful to us. Will we ever see you again?"**

**Max smiled and nodded. "I think you can count on it. Now that we have the spheres, we'll be able to return often, and I'm sure that Liz, especially, will be using them a lot.**

**"I hope so," Andrew said. Vera nodded… "I do, too."**

**Liz hugged Vera and Andrew one final time then asked the sphere to take her and Max back to the ship. Once on the ship, Liz raised the sphere and made one more request…**

**"Please take this ship and everyone in it to Antar and place it in orbit around the planet."**

**"It is done," the sphere said after only four seconds. Liz, Max, Maria, Michael, Angie Lee, Kyle, Alex, Isabel, Varec, Rahn, Jim, Amy, Tess and the other Antarian doubles, and Diane Casey all looked out the New Granolith's huge bridge window. And below them, they saw a planet… with a golden sea.**

****

** (¯'·.¸(¯'·.¸ ¸.·'´¯)¸.·'´¯)**

** (¯'·.¸(¯'·.¸ '´¯) ,. ' )**

** --- To be continued - ---**

** (¸.·'´(¸.·'´ '·.¸)'·.¸)**

** (¸.·'´(¸.·'´ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ '·.¸)'·.¸) **

****


	50. Dreams49

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The King Returns**

**Chapter 49**

**XLIX******

**Max stood on the bridge of the New Granolith, both arms around Liz, and together they stared at the golden orb below. They had no idea what to expect. They knew no one there. And yet… it was magical… mysterious… even alluring in some strange way. It promised hope, joy, love… and mortal danger. But whatever the future held for Max and Liz, whatever their fate was to be, it would happen here… because this was Antar… **

**And its king had returned.**

**Kyle watched the planet slowly rotate below the ship then prodded Max jokingly, "Do you think they'll have a welcoming committee for us, Max?" **

**Max shook his head but managed a slight smile… "I hope not. It probably wouldn't be the kind we would want."**

**Rahn nodded his agreement. "At least Kivar won't be there, though."**

**"That is a good thing," Varec agreed, addressing himself to the younger group who would become the rightful leaders of the planet in this dimension, "But a planet that is struggling with warring factions can be dangerous, too. You must not become complacent or let your guard down."**

**Rahn closed his eyes for a moment, searching his thoughts. "We should turn Nasedo over to the high A'Dak of my people. Perhaps we should go there first. My people are very independent and are not likely to have designs on the king's throne, so they will not be affected by other fighting on the planet. It will be safer among them."**

**"Safer sounds good to me," Alex agreed, smiling.**

**"I thought your people were reclusive, though," Maria countered. "I thought they didn't like outsiders."**

**Rahn nodded. "That's true. They don't. But they will not kill you until after I have explained who you are and why you are here."**

**"Oh, well, I feel a lot better knowing that, Rahn," Alex said, arching his eyebrows noticeably. "I would hate to get killed anonymously."**

**Rahn shook his head with calm reassurance. "They will not harm you."**

**"I hope you're right," Kyle retorted in an ominous tone but with a grin on his face, feigning more concern than he actually felt. **

**"I am."**

**Rahn looked out the large window from the New Granolith's bridge and pointed at a valley that they were passing over…**

**"There. That is my home… between those two mountain ranges."**

**"It looks beautiful," Liz said, "and peaceful."**

**Rahn nodded, actually exhibiting a rather unusual amount of human-like emotion as he watched his valley pass beneath the ship.**

**"That mountain range on the north side is called Tybar-Ly'an. The one on the south is Cy'lax-To'a. The valley between them is called Ke'cje-ka-Ly'a… the 'beautiful home.' It is peaceful and calm. A clear, swift river runs through it, and the high east winds above it are considered a special treasure by our people."**

**"The wind is considered a national treasure?" Alex asked, somewhat incredulous.**

**Rahn nodded. "By the Ke'cje… my people, who are shape-shifters, yes, the high east winds are a treasure. They are not just any winds. They are always there… they are always smooth… they are always dependable… they are always warm and strong… and enjoyable."**

**"The winds?" Alex asked.**

**"Yes."**

**"Why?"**

**Rahn smiled. "Perhaps I will tell you sometime… if the high A'Dak allows it… and if the time seems right."**

**Max noticed that they were once again approaching the valley, having made a complete orbit of the planet already. He looked at Liz then at the others… then at his double from Antar in the other dimension. Everyone nodded.**

**"Okay, then… we put the ship down in the valley," agreed the older Max, who was, of course, the actual captain of the ship. "Any place particular, Rahn?"**

**Rahn pointed. "That area is the most remote, and there is room for the ship there. We can walk from there to the main population center. We will only have to walk over two small mountains."**

**"Or we can use the sphere," Liz reminded him."**

**Rahn nodded. "That is also possible, yes."**

**Max of Antar motioned to Michael, and each took his respective place in one of the two pilots' seats. Max, then Michael, passed his hand over several sensors, causing them to glow, and the ship began to descend toward the valley below. Slightly less than thirty seconds later, the ship was momentarily lifted into the high east wind and swept along with it, but the ship corrected itself automatically and was almost immediately back on track. Moments later, it came to a stop just above the ground. Max looked at Michael, and Michael nodded…**

**"I think you're home, Rahn."**

**Rahn swallowed and looked outside, his face now unmistakably betraying something strongly akin to human emotions…**

**"Over fifty of your earth years… almost the same number in our years… I have not seen my home. Most of that time, I was a prisoner in a dark, isolated cell below your army base, and only a few people knew that I was there. There was no one to help me. I thought that I would spend the rest of my life there… being prodded… being examined… sometimes being tortured… until you came and found me." Rahn smiled and looked at the younger Max and Michael then at Liz, Maria, and Isabel. "I owe all of you my life." Maria noticed that there were actually tears in Rahn's eyes. It was something she had never seen before. She doubted that any amount of torture ever would have brought a tear to his eyes, but this was something else… not sadness or pain. Rahn was home.**

**Max put one hand on Rahn's shoulder and smiled, and Rahn smiled back through misty eyes…**

**"We should go! We need to find my people."**

**Max nodded then turned to Michael… "Do you have the cage… and Nasedo?"**

**Michael held up the cage with the hawk in it. Max nodded then looked back, as something came up from behind him and rubbed against his hand. It was Jung-Jo. **

**"Yeah, you're right, boy, I guess you should go with us, too. We can't leave you here all alone, can we?" Max looked at Liz, and she smiled and raised the sphere in her hand…**

**"Please take everyone here… and Jung-Jo… and the hawk in its cage… to…" Liz hesitated.**

**"T'an-Ke'cj," Rahn said.**

**"T'an-Ke'cj." **

**The portal appeared, and everyone stepped through it, some singly, others in pairs. They stepped out into what appeared to be a town square, and Liz looked around. Immediately, she knew that she was going to like this place. It had all the pleasant atmosphere of a mountain resort. It was shady, it was clean, it was visually appealing in every way… even the temperature was mild and pleasant. There were many people around, but everyone seemed to be relaxed and unconcerned… even about the sudden arrival of a fairly large group of outsiders in their reclusive society… and even about the presence in their midst of Jung-Jo, a pawgor, a predatory species the very name of which brought heart palpitations to nearly everyone on their planet… everyone, it would seem, but the Ke'cje.**

**Max turned to Michael, Rahn, Varec, Maria, and the others present… "We need to make some plans, guys… about where we go from here… and what we tell anyone about what we're doing here… or who we are. We need to be in agreement on all the details until we know what we're facing." **

**As the rest of the group talked, the younger Liz walked down the clean, well-manicured walkway away from what was probably the center of the square, a large sort of kiosk near which she and the others had materialized. She stopped at the edge of a clear pond that appeared to be stocked with some kind of ornamental fish that reminded her of the Japanese koi fish that she had occasionally seen back on earth. But these were not koi fish; that was plain to see. They were… well… alien. The pond seemed to go all the way around the large two or three-acre park in a complete circle, like a mote. One could cross over it at any of several locations by walking over a quaint footbridge. Liz looked up and noticed the tree beside her. It was covered profusely with small pinkish-white flowers that were not at all unlike the blossoms she had seen on cherry trees in Washington D.C. in the springtime. There appeared to be a fair number of these trees lining many of the walks, in fact. Liz took a deep breath and her whole body seemed to relax, bringing a smile to her face.**

**"It's the fragrance of the flowers on the trees…"**

**Liz turned around to see who had spoken. **

**"It's the flowers… They have a relaxing fragrance," the lady said.**

**Liz nodded. "Yes… they do, don't they!" She smiled at the lady. "I'm Liz! Hi!"**

**"Liz? You're not Ke'cje. Where are you from?"**

**"I'm from… well, far away… another planet actually."**

**"I guessed that," the lady said. "Antarians never come here."**

**"I can't imagine why not," Liz said, spinning around two or three times, enjoying the purest air she had ever breathed and the subtle, sweet fragrance of the tree flowers. She breathed in deeply. I would never want to leave here."**

**The lady smiled. "That is how we feel. And others would, too. Fortunately for us, we are isolated… protected… by some very, very steep terrain on the other sides of those mountains. The mountains are beautiful and peaceful on the valley side, but on the outside, they are dangerous and impassable."**

**"How do you get out, then… or back in," Liz asked.**

**The lady smiled and held out her arms. For just a moment, they extended outward and became wings. Then just as quickly, they returned to normal… that is, Liz assumed that arms were normal for these people anyway.**

**"So you fly! That's the only way to get in and out of here, isn't it?"**

**The lady nodded. "The only way. Can you fly, Liz?"**

**Liz shook her head and smiled at the question.**

**"Actually, I just began to walk again recently. I'm afraid flying is far beyond my abilities."**

**"You could not walk?"**

**"No. I was paralyzed."**

**The lady seemed to be confused. "So you could not walk?"**

**"It was because of an injury. I couldn't move my legs… or even my arms at first."**

**"How did you… Oh! You must know an Antarian healer."**

**"Well… yeah, I do," Liz agreed, "But he couldn't heal me. He did try. I don't think I got your name."**

**"I'm sorry. I am Ta'lan-Nya-Shxhida. But you can just call me Ta'lan."**

**"Ta'lan-Nya-Shxhida," Liz repeated with surprising accuracy. "I'm really glad to know you. Omigod! I just realized… you're speaking English! You should be speaking… well… something alien… shouldn't you?"**

**The lady smiled. "I'm not speaking English, Liz… if you heard the words as they are, you would not recognize them."**

**"But I AM hearing English… when you speak."**

**"Yes. But the actual sounds would be alien to you. I made a mental connection between us. Don't worry. It won't harm you. It merely allows you to understand me. I am speaking in my language, but your mind can understand my words in yours."**

**"Like mental telepathy?"**

**"Sort of… only with words. We just understand each other."**

**"Cool. I mean… that's really great!"**

**The lady smiled. "I understood the meaning. Why are you here, Liz? Why are your friends here? They are your friends, aren't they?"**

**Liz nodded. "Actually, one of them is my husband. That would be Max. We just got married. It's a long story, Ta'lan. Max came from Antar… in a way… well, sort of…"**

**The lady smiled, and Liz realized that she wasn't making much sense. **

**"I'm sorry! I meant that Max…" **

**Liz stopped for a moment, realizing that perhaps she should not be telling anyone whom she had just met and knew so little about too much about them, but something made her feel that she should tell Ta'lan everything. For the briefest moment, Liz realized that this compulsion to tell all might have been brought on by the mind power of Ta'lan-Nya-Shxhida herself, but that idea seemed to melt away, and she forgot why she had been concerned.**

**"Max was born on Antar, but he was murdered. His DNA was taken to earth -that's my planet- and combined with human DNA. On Antar, his name was Zan."**

**This name had a definite impact on Ta'lan, who gasped softly.**

**"King Zan?"**

**Liz nodded. It wasn't precisely that she was unable to keep secrets anymore. It was simply that she had forgotten that she should keep them… or even that they were secrets.**

**"Max has returned to take back his throne."**

**"I see," the lady said. "Well! That is… unexpected."**

**"I heard that your people govern themselves and are not interested in Antarian royalty and government affairs."**

**"Yes, well… that is partly true, Liz. We are isolated and self-sufficient, but it's not true that we do not care about Antarian government affairs. We are Antarian, too, though we do not generally refer to ourselves as such. We prefer Ke'cje. It defines us… and it allows us to define all others on this planet, the non-Ke'cje, by calling them Antarians. But in a real sense, of course, we are Antarians, too."**

**Liz nodded. "But would a Ke'cje try to take over the throne?"**

**Ta'lan laughed. "Not likely! We are loyal subjects of the king, but the Ke'cje are fiercely independent, too. We are happy where we are."**

**"Well, I know one Ke'cje who has other ambitions and a desire for the throne," Liz said… "Nasedo."**

**Ta'lan shook her head thoughtfully. "I know no Ke'cje named Nasedo."**

**Liz pointed at Michael, who was standing far up the walk, holding the hawk's cage, as he and Max discussed what to do next. Ta'lan looked at the hawk in the cage and knew instantly that it was J'Shalo.**

**"What did he do?"**

**"What didn't he do?" Liz asked. "That would be the question. He did some kind of thing to our minds while we slept. If Rahn had not saved us, we would all have died. Nasedo wanted to take over the throne of Antar now that Kivar is dead, and he needed us out of the way."**

**Ta'lan nodded and sighed. "J'Shalo is not like most Ke'cje. He is… different. I know. He is my husband."**

**Liz gasped. "He's your… You mean… you're married to him? I'm so sorry! Oh, God! That didn't come out right, did it? I'm so sorry, Ta'lan! Omigod, and we've got him in a cage!"**

**Ta'lan shook her head and held up one hand to stop Liz from apologizing. "It's okay. I kind of like him there. I may decide to keep him there… at least for a while. And as for marriage… well… that is the understanding of the word that your mind gives it, Liz. Marriage, as you know it, is not exactly right. But we are… well, WERE… together, yes."**

**"Were?"**

**Ta'lan nodded. "J'Shalo ran off and left this valley… left Antar… and left me… to find something for himself out there somewhere. But J'Shalo could never find contentment anywhere. I doubt that he found it out there either."**

**Liz shook her head.**

**Ta'lan nodded. "Perhaps he will be content as an alien bird. How are you keeping him like that?"**

**"A little poison from a Xiangar viper every day… just enough…"**

**Ta'lan raised her eyebrows then nodded. "Yes, that would work. I don't know why I never thought of it."**

**Liz winced but smiled to herself. "Come on, Ta'lan! I'll introduce you to my husband and the others… and we can give you your husband back."**

**Ta'lan smiled and nodded. Liz took Ta'lan by the hand and led her toward the others. Max saw them coming and stopped talking. Then Michael looked, too. Then the rest of the group looked up and noticed that they were about to have company; and the conversation came to an abrupt end, as Liz walked up with Ta'lan by the hand.**

**"Ta'lan-Nya-Shxhida… this is Max, my husband… and this is Michael and Maria…"**

**Liz continued through the group, introducing each one until she got to Rahn.**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Welcome home, Rahn. We have missed you."**

**Rahn nodded and smiled, too. "I've missed my home and my people, too. Thank you."**

**"That's right!" Liz said, "You probably know each other already, don't you!"  
  
**

**Ta'lan nodded.**

**"Liz was telling me that you have returned to reclaim your throne, Zan. Welcome back."**

**Max looked at Liz, and for a moment his eyes reflected a mixture of bewilderment, disbelief, hurt… and, Liz thought, anger. But mostly bewilderment. Max shook his head but gave Ta'lan no immediate answer.**

**"Do not blame Liz," Ta'lan said, accurately assessing Max's feelings. "It is the flowers on the trees. Their fragrance gives everyone a feeling of well-being. We, the Ke'cje, are accustomed to it and can tolerate it, but outsiders become somewhat giddy and talkative. They forget that danger even exists. It is not their fault… It is not Liz's fault. Once they have breathed the fragrance, everyone talks."**

**"That is true," Rahn said, vouching for Ta'lan's word. "The flowers are a wonderful thing… for the Ke'cje. "The Ke'cje have no natural enemies, but if we did… and they came here… they would tell us everything and give themselves up happily." He motioned toward Jung-Jo, who was licking Ta'lan's hand adoringly. **

**Max instantly put his hand over his nose without thinking about it. Michael closed his mouth, which had been open, and began taking smaller breaths. Kyle practically stopped breathing… but had to breathe again, as his face began to turn red. Alex, for some reason, seemed to take the whole thing in stride. It might have seemed that he was more resigned to whatever fate held for them, but it wasn't that. The fact is, deep down inside, Alex trusted Liz more than he could explain why. He understood that the flowers had made her talkative and that they had made her say some things that she would not otherwise have said, but he felt strongly that Liz still would not have betrayed them… even after breathing the narcotic-like fragrance of the flowers. Liz had to have trusted this person very deeply for some reason that even she probably did not yet understand. Perhaps she never would. But if Liz trusted her, even while under the influence of the flowers, Alex was certain that they could all trust her. He just didn't know why. In some way, Max seemed to realize this, too, but his face still had a bewildered look.**

**Trying to help defuse the situation and also to limit any information that this Ta'lan-Nya-Shxhida might be able to get from them, Kyle tapped Max on the shoulder and said, loudly enough for Ta'lan to hear… "We still have to keep our appointment with the high A'Dak, Max. Perhaps we should be going." Then he turned and smiled at Ta'lan. "It was nice meeting you, Miss Sh… Shh… uh…"**

**"Shxhida," Ta'lan offered with a smile. But call me Ta'lan. It will be easier for you."**

**"Ta'lan," Kyle agreed, nodding. "Anyway… Ta'lan… as I was saying, we are very happy to meet you, and we'd love to stay and talk, but we're on our way to see the high A'Dak, and we don't want to keep him waiting. He's a very important guy."**

**Ta'lan smiled. "I'm afraid the high A'Dak is over-rated in your mind, Kyle. The high A'Dak is only another Ke'cje. We are all equal here."**

**Rahn tapped on Kyle's shoulder and smiled. "Kyle… Ta'lan-N'ya-Shxhida is the high A'Dak."**

**For a very long moment, Kyle stood motionless… and oddly speechless.**

**"You can breathe now, Kyle," Angie Lee said, noticing that his face was turning red again.**

**"I am breathing, Angie Lee. I'm just trying to dislodge my toes from my tonsils without causing major injury."**

**Angie Lee laughed.**

**"I'm so sorry, Ta'lan," Kyle whispered abashedly. "I didn't know… I guess I made a fool of myself, huh?"**

**Ta'lan shook her head. "I will forgive you… if you will tell me why there are two Zans… and two of some of the others with you. Did the plan to recreate you result in twins, Zan?"**

**Max shook his head. "The other 'me' that you see here is from another dimension. He already took the throne back in his dimension. The other 'doubles' are from his dimension. They came to help us out, because we were in a bit of trouble on our planet with the FBI and the army… well, with some secret units within those agencies anyway."**

**"I see," Ta'lan said. "And how did you get back to Antar?"**

**"With them… with our doubles… in their ship." Max looked at Ta'lan searchingly. "So you're the high A'Dak… Then you're sort of the queen of this valley?"**

**Ta'lan laughed. "Not exactly! I am more like what you would call a governor… or perhaps a mayor. I am only the leader of my people, the Ke'cje. And even that can change. The others only need to convene a council to change the high A'Dak at any time. As long as they are happy, I will probably be their A'Dak."**

**"That has been for many years already," Rahn noted… "and it will be for many more years yet to come, I am sure."**

**"Rahn is one of my biggest supporters," Ta'lan said with a smile. "So you are here to retake your throne, Zan? You never answered."**

**Max nodded cautiously. "That would be the plan. We came here first to return J'Shalo to the high… that is, to you… and to bring Rahn home."**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Thank you for bringing Rahn back to us. He has been gone for too long."**

**"Not by my choice, though, I assure you," Rahn noted.**

**"Well, you are here now, Rahn," Ta'lan said, taking the cage with J'Shalo in it from Michael, "That is what is important."**

**Ta'lan looked at the large hawk in its cage and smiled, but J'Shalo did not appear to be as happy. Even in his hawk's face, the frustration was plainly evident. Unfortunately for J'Shalo, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.**

**"Come," Ta'lan said, motioning to Max and to the others. "We can go to my house… to discuss your return to Antar… and how the Ke'cje can help. It will be a good thing for our people to have the real king on the throne again. Our valley is isolated and safe, but the rest of Antar needs stability. You must provide that for them again, Zan."**

**Max nodded. "So Antar has become a dangerous place, Ta'lan?" **

**Ta'lan smiled. "It was dangerous enough for you when you were killed, Zan. It was dangerous for Antarians when Kivar was on the throne. And it is dangerous now that Kivar is gone, because there is fighting for control."**

**Max nodded. **

**Ta'lan looked at Michael and smiled. "I see you have brought Rath back with you. That is good. You will need him. It is even better that you have brought two Raths." Ta'lan looked at the others in the group, especially Jim Valenti from the other dimension, and she nodded. "They are not all Antarians… but it is a good army. Not very large… but obviously devoted. I think you will have a chance… with a little help."**

**tbc**

**Coming: A throne for the taking, an old enemy… and a sad good-bye, as the other group leaves for home in their own dimension **

Quick Note: ParkerEvanss - Thanks ever so much for the wondeful feedbacks! I really look forward to them! As you can see, your idea about Vera's fiance being rescued came true. I had planned for that to happen from way back when he was first mentioned in the story but had almost forgotten about it until you reminded me. Whew! Right in time, too! I have a page of notes to myself on the computer about things I want to work into the story as the time comes, but I had not written that one down. The lecture Jim Valenti gave to the city council was completely written almost from the beginning of the story, and there is still one little matter that has been planned and partly written since before the very first chapter and is coming very soon. :)


	51. Dreams50

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Valley Of The Ke'cje**

**Chapter 50**

**L******

**Ta'lan led the group down the walk past the fragrant Qu'rosk trees and over the footbridge that crossed the circular fishpond. Then she led them along a small but exceedingly quaint and neatly kept little lane for a distance of about six blocks. She stopped in front of a nice-looking if surprisingly modest-sized house. It had an upstairs and a downstairs and looked like it might have two, maybe three bedrooms at the most… probably two upstairs and one downstairs, assuming it was built similarly to an earth home for its size.**

**Ta'lan opened the front entrance by touching her finger to something that appeared to be a lock.**

**"Nice trick," Alex said approvingly. "I wish I could do that."**

**"You could do it… if it were adjusted for you," Ta'lan replied. "It responds to my digital subprint."**

**"Digital subprint?" Maria looked at her own fingertips quizzically. "Is that like a fingerprint?"**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Not like on the outside of the finger. Any of us can imitate another's fingerprints just by shape-shifting… taking their fingerprints. It wouldn't be any protection at all. But the subprint… well… like I said, it's not really a 'print.' That's kind of a misnomer. It's more like a subcutaneous, exo-osseus life pattern… similar to DNA but not exactly that either. DNA can be found in all parts of the body; the digital subprint is found only in the fingertips within a membrane that covers the tip of the finger bone. It cannot be altered. Almost everything else in our bodies can be. Even if we take the shape of a creature that has no fingers or hands, the unique digital subprint is still present somewhere in the body."**

**"So do I have a digital subprint?" Alex asked.**

**"I suspect that you do, Alex," Ta'lan said with a smile. "Every creature has one somewhere… or something equivalent."**

**Ta'lan led the group into what was clearly a living room or parlor and motioned toward several comfortable-looking chairs and a longer seat that resembled a sofa.**

**"Please! Have a seat. Be comfortable."**

**Max sat down, and the others all followed suit, glancing around curiously at the décor. Jung-Jo stretched out on the floor beside Jim. The inside of the house seemed much larger than the outside would have suggested. On the far side of the living room, which was quite expansive, there was a large concave window that reached all the way to the floor… or perhaps it was a door… a sliding door maybe… but it looked more like a large, super clear, solid membrane, slightly rounded outward toward the outside of the house. To their left, there was a wide semicircular stairway with a banister. That, at least, looked earthlike. The chairs, too, were fairly earthlike, though their design was clearly alien. The sofa was somewhat different than anything they had ever seen before. It was long, perhaps twelve to fourteen feet long, and had a large number of contours that really didn't seem to match any known body shape… well, any that they had ever seen anyway, though the overall look was very interesting and even elegant in an alien sort of way. Each end of the sofa had a very ornate arm, partially wrapped in a plush, soft, velvet-like fabric. **

**When Liz, Maria, Angie Lee, Alex, and Isabel sat on the sofa, the odd contours seemed to reconfigure themselves, conforming to each one's shape. Liz smiled to herself, wondering who… or what… had sat there before them and left the contours that they had seen when they came in.**

**"Would you like something to drink… or something to eat," Ta'lan asked sociably.**

**Kyle's eyes seemed to answer the question, but it was Rahn who replied…**

**"I think we are all a bit thirsty, thank you."**

**Ta'lan nodded and smiled. "I'll bring some da'nish out for you… and some of my Qnist'as."**

**Maria looked at Rahn questioningly. "Danishes?"**

**Rahn smiled. "Not the same as you know from earth. Da'nish is a drink, a little like jubish… only better. You'll like it."**

**"What's jubish?" the younger Max asked. **

**His double from the other dimension smiled… "You'll see."**

**Ta'lan returned with a large tray holding numerous very tall, thin, flute-like glasses filled with a bluish-amber liquid. It was pretty, especially in the fourteen-inch tall, one-inch wide glasses… but it really didn't look like something that should be ingested by the human body.**

**"Are you sure this is safe," Alex asked, holding the glass up and examining the sometimes bluish, sometimes amber liquid in the light. **

**Max nodded with a grin. "Try it."**

**Alex took a deep breath and put the glass to his lips, allowing a few drops to pour over his tongue. The look on his face was, at first, unfathomable. It was either one of the best things he had ever tasted or… he was dying. Concerned, Maria, Liz, and Angie Lee leaned forward in their seats, and Isabel looked into Alex's eyes to make sure that he was okay…**

**"Alex?"**

**Alex took another deep breath then let it out again… "Whew!"**

**"That was… that was… incredible! Totally excellent!"**

**That was good enough for Kyle. Convinced that Alex wasn't going to die, Kyle poured some of the liquid into his mouth… perhaps a little more than he should have at one time. The look in his eyes clued the others in. Michael grinned, clearly enjoying Kyle's look. It reminded him of a cartoon he had once seen somewhere… maybe of Popeye after eating spinach… or maybe the guy whose head spins around and around and his toupée blows off while steam pours out of his ears. Kyle didn't actually move from his seat, though. The look was all in his eyes.**

**"Are you okay, Kyle," Angie Lee asked. Kyle nodded and took another drink… a much smaller one this time. Then everyone else took a sip, too.**

**"This stuff would make someone rich back on earth," Alex said approvingly. All the others just nodded. **

**Ta'lan picked up another tray and passed it around. This tray appeared to hold something that looked like large cookies; and in fact, that's more or less what they were.**

**"Try a Qnist'a. It goes well with da'nish… it will help you to enjoy the da'nish."**

**"I'm enjoying the da'nish already," Alex said, holding his glass up. **

**Jim Valenti, of the other dimension, grinned and raised his eyebrows. "We can see."**

**"It is pretty good," the younger Max said, in what was clearly an understatement. Michael nodded his agreement.**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Well, eat the Qnist'a anyway. It will keep you sober."**

**Each of them took a Qnist'a and tried it. It did seem to have an effect… a very rapid effect, in fact… bringing them back down from what they now realized had been quickly becoming a state of euphoria. The Qnist'a seemed to counteract the intoxicating effects of the da'nish. Remarkably, it didn't detract from the taste at all. It may even have enhanced it.**

**As everyone in the group finished off the da'nish and Qnist'as, they began to think again about the reason they were here.**

**"Max…"**

**"Yeah?"**

**"How are you gonna find all these groups that are fighting for your throne? And another thing, what are we gonna do with them after we find them?"**

**Max shook his head and smiled just a bit. "Good questions, Alex. I'm still thinking about those very things myself. I have some ideas, though. Michael does, too, right, Michael?"**

**Michael nodded solemnly. "I say we march over there and put you on the throne and announce that you're back. Then they'll find US. Let them do all the work. We just have to be ready for them when they come."**

**For a moment, Max appeared to consider Michael's words. "Sounds logical. They'll definitely know where to look for me… I don't know where to look for them."**

**"We could find them with the sphere of location," Liz said, joining the discussion.**

**Michael thought for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, probably so… but I still think it's easier to make the pretenders and usurpers come to us."**

**"We might have the advantage of surprise by going to them, though," Max said. Liz nodded.**

**Michael thought about it again and nodded hesitantly. "That's a good point. But we don't know who is going to be our enemy and who isn't. I mean… some of these groups may not be against you… you being the real king and all. Some of them may even want to join us. We don't want to just rush out and round everyone up without knowing whether they're friend or foe. Since there was no legitimate king here, they can't be accused of treason or anything for trying to take over the throne. Kivar doesn't count. He wasn't legitimate."**

**"Who's living in the palace now," Kyle asked.**

**Max looked at Ta'lan, and Ta'lan shrugged… "I don't know. We never go to Coruz Antar anymore. We never did very much… and since Kivar took over the throne, I don't know of any Ke'cje who has been there."**

**"I could find out," Rahn offered.**

**Alex laughed. "Are there roadrunners here on Antar?"**

**Rahn shook his head and smiled. "No roadrunners… but there are other birds… like the long-tail golden zerpia… and the jah-ee."**

**None of the younger gang reacted to these names, but the older Max and Michael, from Antar in the other dimension, did. The fact is, the group from earth in this dimension had no idea… at least not yet… what a golden zerpia was, much less the formidable jah-ee. **

**"A jah-ee might be overdoing things just a little bit, don't you think, Rahn," the older Max asked with a grin.**

**Rahn nodded. "The jah-ee is only a myth. It's not real. I only meant that there are other birds here on Antar. I would not need to become a roadrunner… or a jah-ee. The long-tail golden zerpia can run… and fly. And it is beautiful."**

**"And it would not be paid very much attention," Ta'lan agreed. "The golden zerpia is fairly common at this time of year in Coruz Antar… especially in the parks… and around the palace. There are many of them in the palace gardens."**

**Rahn needed no more encouragement than that. Immediately, he began to contract and shrink, ultimately becoming a long-tail golden zerpia, a large bird about two-thirds the size of a peacock with mostly golden-colored feathers on its side and belly, darker greenish or bluish feathers on its back and head, and a very long, straight, iridescent tail.**

**Liz and Maria both gasped, and Angie Lee reached out to stroke the bird's beautiful feathers…**

**"They're so soft! Rahn, you're totally gorgeous!"**

**Jung-Jo raised his head and looked at the bird with curiosity, both ears rotating forward on alert. "Down boy," Jim said with a smile. "That's just Rahn. You don't want to eat him." Jung-Jo put his head back down and began to purr then rolled onto his back for Jim to scratch his belly.**

**Rahn couldn't smile, but he did appear to be strangely satisfied… for a bird… as he strutted out the front door, spread his iridescent blue-green and golden wings, and leapt forward into the air, rising majestically into the sky, trailing five-foot-long iridescent tail feathers behind him.**

**Ta'lan watched, smiling. "I taught him to do that. I've known Rahn since he was a baby."**

**"You taught him to fly?" Maria asked.**

**Ta'lan nodded. "I taught him to shape-shift… when he was little."**

**"You have to learn that? I thought you guys were born doing it."**

**Ta'lan laughed. "No. We have to learn. Were you born walking and talking, Maria?"**

**Maria shook her head.**

**"You probably had to learn those things. We do, too… and we also must learn to shape-shift."**

**"Can anybody learn to do it then," Maria asked. **

**Ta'lan smiled, shaking her head. "You must be a shapeshifter to shape-shift. Your body must be able to do it. Would someone be able to walk if they had no legs… or talk if they had no mouth?"**

**"I see," Maria replied, nodding. "I just wondered."**

**Ta'lan smiled. **

**Maria thought about Ta'lan's words but decided not to bring up the incidents onboard the ship when J'Shalo caused them all to shape-shift uncontrollably. Instead, she filed the thought away in the back of her mind to be brought up later, when it would not seem like she was contradicting their hostess outright. If Ta'lan didn't want them to believe that shape-shifting was possible for anyone but a born shape-shifter, Maria was not going to challenge her on it. Perhaps Ta'lan did not know. Or perhaps she was right, and shape-shifting, at least controllably, was impossible for anyone else. Certainly, Maria knew that she, herself, had not shown any signs of having such an ability since Rahn had "cured" them, saving them from a certain horrible death on the ship.**

**"Come… Let me show you the rest of my home," Ta'lan said, motioning to Maria and the others to follow. She walked toward the grand staircase and stopped, placing one hand on the rail, to wait for them. Everyone placed their empty flutes back on the tray and followed Ta'lan up the staircase. It led to a large hallway. Looking down the hallway, they could see eight rooms, four on either side.**

**"Are those all bedrooms," Maria asked.**

**Ta'lan nodded. "Well, six of them are. I have six upstairs and three downstairs. Nine in all. The other two rooms up here are for study and relaxation."**

**"The house doesn't look this big from outside," Kyle said. "I would have guessed that there were two large bedrooms or maybe three smaller ones in this house… but it looks a whole whopping lot bigger when you're inside it."**

**Ta'lan smiled. "It is our way. It is not considered to be good manners to make one's house look larger than the others. Still… and this might seem contradictory… okay, it is contradictory, I guess… we all really do like to have a lot of space and nice things in our homes… so inside each home, everything is different in size and décor from one Ke'cje house to another. The look from the outside is only an illusion in a way. It makes us appear to be all the same. You would call it 'forced perspective.' The front of the houses are all the same size, but the sides expand as they go back. The house looks much smaller than it really is, so it is impossible to tell whether one Ke'cje has more or has less than another. It is a false modesty, I suppose. We all have our little quirks… even the Ke'cje."**

**"Is this house bigger inside than most Ke'cje homes," Angie Lee asked.**

**"It is about the same," Ta'lan replied. Angie Lee wasn't sure whether to take that answer as a fact or as an expression of the Ke'cje "modesty," so she smiled and nodded.**

**"This is the relaxation room," Ta'lan said, opening one of the doors. Everyone followed her inside and looked around. It was a large room with a very high ceiling. Except for something that might have been a bed or a chaise, against one of the walls, though, nothing in the room was recognizable to them at all. There was something near one wall that looked vaguely like offset climbing bars that reached all the way to the ceiling. Jung-Jo leapt onto the bottom rung, and before anyone knew what he was doing, he was at the very top, resting on a ledge overlooking the room. **

**"He's okay. Let him stay there," Ta'lan said. **

**In a corner, there was something that could only be described as an eight-foot-high rock mountain full of tiny caves. Directly overhead there was something that appeared to be a swing. The ropes attaching it to the ceiling were quite long, so it would have had a formidable swinging range. On another side of the room, there was a pile of rocks with a waterfall cascading over them into a small pool. The pool did look peaceful and relaxing, and it was probably big enough to qualify as a small spa or something, but none of them could even begin to imagine how Ta'lan might make use of the items in this room. Kyle looked at Max, and Max shrugged.**

**"When you're a shape-shifter," Ta'lan explained, "relaxation can come in many different forms. It is necessary to exercise the different muscles and then to allow them to rest."**

**Max nodded, beginning to understand. "Each of these… devices… is meant to offer exercise or relaxation to you in a different form that you can take."**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Exactly. I may fly up to the swing and swing on it, then I may swim in the pool… as a fish. Those bars over there are for climbing. There are creatures that climb, like your pawgor, and those are some of the muscles that we must exercise and care for, too."**

**"What's the little rock mountain with all the caves for," Jim asked.**

**"It is a dark place to hide and relax. Some creatures seek out such places to sleep."**

**Jim nodded, not sure he wanted to know precisely what creatures Ta'lan might have in mind.**

**"I would invite you to use my relaxation room, but you would probably find it… awkward."**

**Liz looked at Maria, and Maria raised her eyebrows and smiled, nodding her agreement. **

**"It's an amazing room," Liz said. "It's a shame we're not shape-shifters."**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Come on, I'll show you the study." Stepping to the door, Ta'lan opened it and walked out into the hall. The others all followed. Jung-Jo hopped down from his ledge to the swing then onto the floor and brought up the tail end of the line. Ta'lan led them to the far end of the hall and opened another door. This room was much more recognizable. There was a desk… It was clearly a desk. And there was a chair. On the desk was a device that Liz immediately assumed to be a type of computer… or something like a computer. It certainly wasn't made by IBM or Apple, but it did appear to be a computer… like… device… probably, she thought to herself as she looked at it. Against one wall, there was a bookshelf full of books, and beside the desk, tilted upward toward the sky, there was a bright, airy-looking window that provided light and fresh air to the room.**

**"This looks more like what I'm used to," Alex said with a grin. Then he noticed something in a corner and walked over to it. Carefully, almost respectfully, he picked it up and held it in his hands. Then he ran one hand over the fourteen strings on the front of it. It made a harmonious sound.**

**"Awesome! An alien guitar! Do you… play this, Ta'lan?"**

**Ta'lan nodded and smiled.**

**Alex shook his head. "I knew there was something I liked about you! Well… a lot, actually. You play a… a… uh, what do you call this?"**

**"Kyy'ta-va," Ta'lan replied.**

**Alex nodded. "Kyy'ta-va. Cool! A kyy'ta-va. Can you play something for us? Please?" **

**"Ta'lan sighed and took the instrument in her hands. "First of all, Alex, it's held like this…" Ta'lan sat down and placed the instrument in her lap with the long neck aiming straight up next to her face. She appeared to caress it. She placed her left hand over the strings, not quite touching them, allowing them instead to resonate and vibrate under her fingers. Then, with the other hand, she pulled and strummed at the fourteen strings softly. The sound was melodious… rich… full… like a large string orchestra. Alex stood watching and listening, enraptured. It was like a harp and like a guitar… and it sounded like a whole orchestra.**

**Ta'lan finished playing her song and returned the instrument to its stand in the corner of the room. "I guess you have learned my weakness. When everyone believes that I am working hard in my study… sometimes I am relaxing with the kyy'ta-va."**

**"Works for me," Alex said, still in awe of the music he had just heard come from the instrument Ta'lan called a kyy'ta-va. "I would be playing it all the time."**

**Ta'lan nodded. "That is a temptation that I must resist, Alex. There is work to be done, and sooner or later it always has to be done."**

**"That never changes wherever you go, does it," Liz quipped with a smile. **

**Ta'lan returned the smile. "I'm afraid not, Liz. I've never found the planet yet where no work had to be done… though Yxtiar came close."**

**"Yxtiar?" Alex asked.**

**"That's a planet several light years from here," Michael from the other dimension replied. "It has a lot of hot springs. It's kind of a getaway place… a spa resort."**

**"A place that Michael is going to take me to soon," Maria from the other dimension added, looking at Michael.**

**"Right," Michael said.**

**Ta'lan led the group back down the stairs to the large living room. **

**"Would you like to see the back?"**

**"The back?" Max asked. "Yeah, sure… I guess."**

**Ta'lan smiled and led them toward the large concave membrane-like door on the back of the living room. But instead of stopping and opening it, she walked right through it. The membrane, or whatever it was, stretched momentarily then just flowed over her body as she emerged on the other side of it. She turned and motioned to the others to follow; they couldn't hear her voice through it. Max looked at Michael, and Michael looked at Kyle, and Kyle looked at Alex, and as they did, Jung-Jo walked through the membrane. **

**"Chicken," Michael said to Kyle with a smile.**

**Kyle reached over and brushed Michael's shirt with his hand. "Feathers."**

**Liz and Maria pushed both of them through the membrane and followed them through, then the others followed. As soon as everyone was on the outside, the membrane turned itself inward, becoming convex on the inside and concave now on the outside.**

**"It's inviting us to go back in whenever we're ready," Ta'lan said. "You can only pass through it when it's turned inward, not outward, from the side you're on. It's a one-way convex conveyance port."**

**"I'll take your word for that," Jim said, grinning.**

**Liz looked at the membrane curiously. "Shouldn't that be a 'one-way concave conveyance port? You go through it from the concave side."**

**"Thank you," Ta'lan replied with a smile. "That's exactly what I told the Borolians who installed it. They're a strange people, but these conveyance ports come from their planet… and they insist on calling it a convex conveyance port, because, they say, the default setting is convex as seen from the outside of the house. You can't argue with a Borolian. They don't listen. And they never read the instructions."**

**Maria smiled. "An all-male planet, huh?"**

**Michael put his arm around Maria and pulled her to him brusquely, but a lopsided smile partially betrayed his feigned scowl. "We get the job done, though, don't we?"**

**Maria grinned and nodded, winking at Ta'lan. "He does, you know."**

**Ta'lan led the group through the gardens and pathways behind her home. Like everything they had seen in the valley, Ta'lan's gardens were impeccably cared for. Liz stopped to admire a stand of tall, lily-like flowers. They were clearly alien… but lilies were the nearest things that came to her mind. She carefully pulled one of the golden flowers with long petals infused with broad reddish streaks toward her nose and sniffed it. It had a nice fragrance… like the trees with the pinkish white flowers. She hoped that these flowers were less intoxicating than the trees had been. Further along, Ta'lan showed them a small waterfall that cascaded over some rocks from a height of about seven feet into a pond with more of the alien fish that Liz had seen before. There was a bench beside the pond to sit on. It all seemed very peaceful. But all too soon, they were back at the house again. The back yard was probably not as large as it really looked. That was a reversal, actually, of the perspective they had had of the house. It was the way Ta'lan arranged her garden and pathways that made the yard seem larger than it really was.**

**Ta'lan motioned toward the "convex" entrance port that was really concave… on the entrance side… and everyone passed through it and into the house again.**

**"How do you keep other people… or animals… from coming in through that when you don't want them to," Jim asked.**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Well, one can only pass through it from the concave side, so if it is convex on the outside… as it is in the default setting… nothing can come in through it."**

**"Even if they run and jump into it… or hit it very hard…" Kyle asked.**

**"Try it," Ta'lan suggested.**

**Kyle looked at the membranous port and decided, wisely, not to.**

**"I'll take your word for it."**

**"You would not get through it. It would feel like a mountain of solid stone," Ta'lan explained with a smile. "It responds automatically to me when I go in or out, but anyone else who passes through it must be with me or have my permission. I can recalibrate the acceptance limits, of course, if I decide to."**

**"Cool," Kyle said, nodding that he understood.**

**At that moment, as Ta'lan spoke, something did come up to the back port. It was Rahn. He had landed and changed back into his normal more human-like appearance. A quick wave of Ta'lan's hand, and the almost invisible membranous port turned inward, allowing Rahn to pass through it and into the house.**

**"Did you find out anything, Rahn," Ta'lan asked.**

**Rahn nodded. "The palace is occupied by a small group of soldiers led by one of Kivar's former co-conspirators… one named Nyykto."**

**"Nicholas!" Max and Michael from the other dimension both said at the same time. Both of them immediately recognized the Antarian name of their old nemesis and archenemy. Max and Michael from this dimension had not recognized the name Nyykto, never having heard it before, but at the mention of Nicholas, both of them immediately came to full alert, too.**

**"Nicholas? Here?" the younger Michael exclaimed. "I thought we got rid of him on earth!"**

**"Apparently not," Rahn replied simply. "He is here, and he controls the palace."**

**"Well, I say we get that pimple-faced pre-adolescent pimp out of the palace, Max… and the sooner the better," the younger Michael said to Max. "You and I can take him, together."**

**"He has soldiers with him," Rahn reminded them. "He is not alone. "Why did you call him a pimple-faced, pre-adolescent pimp, Michael?"**

**"Because he is one."**

**Rahn appeared perplexed. "I didn't see any pimples on his face… and Nyykto is a man, he is not an adolescent."**

**Isabel put her face into her hands and groaned, as unwelcome memories flooded back into her mind from somewhere deep inside her. She saw Nicholas as he once was… before he traveled to earth and took the husk of a young boy in order to survive in earth's atmosphere… before he became the pathetic… but very dangerous… sarcastic little twerp that they all knew.**

**"He must have returned and somehow returned to his old body… or made himself look like he used to again," Liz said.**

**Isabel nodded. "Nicholas… Nyykto… was very… handsome when we were living on Antar in our former lives. I know. Oh, God, I don't want to think about him… what he did! What he… made me do… I betrayed you, Max. I betrayed the royal family!"**

**"No, you didn't." **

**Isabel looked at Michael from the other dimension. The words had come from him.**

**"You didn't betray Max or the royal family, Isabel. Nicholas tricked you. I know. I went back in time… I saw what happened… everything. I'm pretty sure it happened the same way in your dimension."**

**"What did you see," Isabel asked, not sure that she really wanted to know but feeling more than a little compelled to find out what Michael knew.**

**You… Vilandra… were once taken in by Nyykto, it's true… but that was only in the beginning. You believed that Kivar only wanted to talk to Zan and would not hurt him, and you believed that Nyykto loved you. But you began to realize that you had been deceived by both of them. By then, it was too late to stop Kivar's plot, so you tried to form a fake alliance with Kivar to slow him down and allow the royal family time to escape to a safehouse in the country. You planned for them to return later and save you from Kivar. But Kivar had had you followed, and he knew all of your plans as soon as you made them. He killed the protectors and royal guards at the safehouse… then he killed the rest of us… including you… at the palace. You tried to save us."**

**"But it was my fault that he was able to get into the palace," Isabel groaned. **

**Michael shook his head. "Kivar had shape-shifters with him, pretending to be a civilian entourage. They came as friends but were really soldiers in disguise." **

**Suddenly remembering that he was among shape-shifters right now, Michael looked up at Rahn and Ta'lan and quickly clarified what he had said…**

**"They weren't Ke'cje. They weren't from Antar at all. These were a different race of shape-shifters. The Ke'cje were never allies of Kivar."**

**Ta'lan nodded. "That is true, we were not friends of Kivar, nor did we help him. There are several different shape-shifter races, including the Kelians, who are mostly good, the Utibo, whom we call the black hole shape-shifters, and the shadow men of Na'tia-bo. Some of them are treacherous, but they are not from Antar. And they are certainly not Ke'cje."**

**All the talk about shape-shifters brought Maria's former question back to her mind, and she searched for a way to bring it up…**

**"Do you think some shape-shifters might not have been, you know, born that way, Ta'lan?"**

**"Not born shape-shifters? Why would you ask that, Maria?"**

**Maria shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "Well, it's just that we all changed shapes… sort of… well, some of us did… back on the ship… before Rahn stopped it and saved us." **

**Ta'lan looked at Rahn, and Rahn hesitated, looking for a way to explain…**

**"J'Shalo activated their cerebral processes. They were unable to control it. They would have died…"**

**Ta'lan nodded. "I understand. So you did what you had to do."**

**Rahn swallowed and nodded.**

**Ta'lan breathed in and then sighed. "Well, it could not be helped. J'Shalo is to blame." She turned toward J'Shalo, who sat quietly in his cage on a table across the room, and shot him a blistering look. The hawk clearly seemed to wither, tucking its head under its wing defensively.**

**"Is something wrong," Maria asked.**

**"No! No! No!" Ta'lan shook her head. "It is nothing that you need to worry about… nothing that any of you need to worry about. It is just that… well… it compromises our security… our secrets. Fortunately, it is you and not someone else. But even that is cause for concern to us. Rahn understands that."**

**Rahn nodded. "I would have had to let almost anyone else die after J'Shalo changed them. The risk to our people is that great. But you… I could not. You are the king… and… you are… my friends." Rahn hung his head.**

**"It is okay, Rahn," Ta'lan said, lifting Rahn's chin back up again. "I believe we can trust them… You did the right thing. You saved the life of our king. If this is to be, it is to be."**

**"Thank you, Ta'lan," Rahn replied humbly. "I was not sure that you would feel this way."**

**Ta'lan smiled. "Yes, you were, Rahn. You just don't know it. You did the right thing. It is what I would have done. I would expect no less from you; and within your heart, you know that."**

**Rahn nodded.**

**"Well!" Ta'lan took a deep breath and smiled. "Fate sometimes brings winds that were not expected. We will talk about this later. But first, we need to get you back on your throne, Zan… in your palace… and Nyykto off of the throne."**

**"Yeah!" Alex exclaimed enthusiastically. "That's why we're here."**

**"Actually," Max from the other dimension said hesitantly, "Rahn gave me an idea."**

**"I gave you an idea?" Rahn asked with a bit of surprise.**

**Max nodded. "You mentioned that you could change into a jah-ee."**

**"But I was just using that as an example. That is a mythical bird," Rahn repeated. "The jah-ee does not exist."**

**"Perhaps," Ta'lan said cautiously.**

**Rahn turned to look at her quizzically.**

**"Well, we have always believed the jah-ee to be a myth, but there are Ke'cje who claim to have seen it once while flying in the high east winds."**

**"They forgot to eat their Q'nist'as," Rahn said with certainty. "The da'nish had them seeing things that weren't there. Were they flying in circles?"**

**"The jah-ee?"**

**"No. The Ke'cjes."**

**Ta'lan shook her head. "I'm not so sure, Rahn. At least one of them was very trustworthy."**

**"Well, I wouldn't know what a jah-ee looked like to turn into one," Rahn insisted. "I've never seen one… except in the story books… of Frebel-Ish."**

**Max from Antar in the other dimension smiled. "I may be able to help you with that and answer some age-old questions for you at the same time." He closed his eyes and concentrated for what turned out to be some very long moments… close to two full minutes. Then he opened his eyes again.**

**"Did you go into a trance, Max," Kyle asked. "You weren't with us there for a while."**

**Max smiled. "Actually, I was far away… my mind was anyway. I was talking to some friends of some friends… in a way. If I relayed the message right, we may get a visit soon."**

**"Here?" Ta'lan asked.**

**Max nodded. "Don't worry, Ta'lan. It's only a bird. It can't reveal any secrets… except maybe to me."**

**Ta'lan looked at Max, and her mouth opened but no words came out. Somewhere, deep in her mind, she knew… She knew what Max had done.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: Well, we all know, don't we? ;) Ta'lan and Rahn get a visitor that they never in their lives expected. An assault on Nyykto and his soldiers is planned, and another unexpected visitor, this one to Max and Liz of Antar from the other dimension, suddenly has them and the others in their group longing to get back home to their children again.**


	52. Dreams51

The Night The Dreams Died 

**A Friend Of A Friend**

**Chapter 51**

**LI******

**Ta'lan looked at Rahn, and Rahn turned his hand over palm up, silently asking what, exactly, she was expecting to happen. Ta'lan looked back at Max…**

**"Are you certain that what you have done was wise, Zan?"**

**Max nodded. "I have a mental connection with them in my dimension. I wasn't sure it would work in your dimension, because I've never met her here, and she's never met me… but there was a connection. She understood what I told her. I can't guarantee she'll come, of course, but I believe she will. She understands that I'm a friend of her kind."**

**"Where does she live?"**

**"On an island… under it, actually… at least in my dimension."**

**"How many are there?"**

**"I've seen this one and her three babies… and her mate… but I've had a mental connection with others from time to time. I'm not sure how many there are. It isn't many… maybe fifteen adults… plus at least three babies. Well, I guess they're adults, too, now."**

**"How far away is this island? How long will it take her to come here… if she comes?"**

**Max nodded, understanding Ta'lan's concern. "The island is pretty far away… about a third of Antar's circumference… but it won't take her long to get here. She flies very high and very fast… in the high winds. And I think she was closer than that when we connected."**

**Even as Max spoke, Ta'lan and the others in the house noticed that a commotion was growing outside. Hearing shouts and rapid footsteps, as though people were running outside her door, Ta'lan walked to the window and looked out to see what was happening. She saw Ke'cjes running in the street, most of them looking upward as they ran, and all of them were yelling about something. Obviously, something quite extraordinary was happening. Though outsiders are not invited to their valley, which is secluded and hidden from other Antarians, Ke'cjes just do not become easily excited. Even Jung-Jo, a feared pawgor, had barely got a sideways glance from the Ke'cjes as he walked down the lane with a group of outsiders to Ta'lan's house. But something had definitely stirred up some excitement in this group.**

**Ta'lan opened the front door and walked outside, followed by her guests, just in time to see a large shadow pass overhead. She looked up and gasped. It was far larger than she had ever imagined; and although Ta'lan had had some warning that it was coming, she found herself watching, like everyone else, in utter awe as the huge bird circled high overhead, descending from the sky, drawing ever nearer to their valley… and to her…**

**"Zan… are you certain that this jah-ee will be… uh…" **

**"Friendly?"**

**"I was going to say 'safe,' but yes, friendly. Is it true that the jah-ee's talons are poisonous?"**

**Max nodded. "They're hollow… and filled with an unknown but very powerful poison. A scratch from any one of the talons would be deadly… there's no cure that is known to Antarians. Even I cannot reverse the poison's effects. I know. I got scratched when I met the jah-ee the first time."**

**"But you survived?"**

**"Barely… only because she decided not to let me die and took me to a place where I would heal… because I had healed her broken wing. That's how I came to be friends with the jah-ees. In our dimension, we had to fight Kivar for Antar, and during one battle, I was forced to hide deep inside the Nan-Torel to escape from Kivar's soldiers. I was attacked there by the jah-ee… near the river… but during the attack, her wing got broken."**

**Ta'lan gasped. "No one goes into the Nan-Torel. It's deadly. No one ever comes out again."**

**Max smiled and nodded. "Where were you when I needed you to tell me that? Anyway, you're right… It's dangerous. There are pawgors and fire snakes and rob-jettas that can strip a person to the bones in minutes."**

**"Sounds like you should put up a lot of 'No Camping' signs around that forest, Max," Alex said, his eyes widening as Max described the dangers of the unique Antarian forest-jungle.**

**Max grinned and shook his head. "Not necessary. You couldn't drag an Antarian into the Nan-Torel kicking and screaming. Ask Jim. He tried."**

**Ta'lan looked at Jim, and Jim held up his hands defensively.**

**"I'm not a cold-hearted sadist, really! I was doing a documentary on the Nan-Torel… for Antarians… and I needed cameramen and a crew…"**

**Ta'lan nodded. "Did you get them to go with you?"**

**Jim shook his head. "Antarians wouldn't go in. Xarians took off running when the first wild pawgor howled… and left me alone with the equipment. I finally got the Dragons of Drago to do it."**

**Ta'lan wanted to know more about Max's encounter with the jah-ee in his dimension, but the presence of a real, live jah-ee over her house was far more pressing at the moment. She turned her attention again entirely to the bird that was dropping fast from the sky. As it drew nearer, the huge bird let out a piercing, high-pitched scream that sounded eerily like, "jaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee." The streets, by now, were completely clear. Ta'lan and Rahn were the only Ke'cjes who were not inside their houses.**

**With a final powerful flapping of huge wings that measured sixty feet from wingtip to wingtip, the jah-ee set itself lightly down in the street in front of Max, Rahn, Ta'lan, Jim, Liz, Michael, Maria, Alex, Isabel, Kyle, Angie Lee, Tess, Varec, and the doubles who were there. Several of the group took a step or two backwards without realizing it, as the wind from the huge bird's wings blew over them with the force of a sudden gale. Besides, it just seemed like this bird should be given plenty of room. It was easily twice as tall as either Max or Michael, probably a little more. All the Ke'cje houses were two-stories, so the jah-ee did not give the appearance of standing as high as the rooftops the way it did when standing next to an average single-story Antarian structure, but despite this, the bird seemed no less awesome here than anywhere else Max had ever seen it.**

**The jah-ee cocked its head slightly and looked at Ta'lan, then at Rahn, who's eyes were bigger than Max thought he had ever seen them. Then it looked at Max. Max concentrated and began to send out mental images, the method by which the jah-ee communicated. During his time in the lost world under their island, he had learned to communicate with them quite effectively through mental imagery. **

**Max formed an image of himself leading the people. This was as close as he could come to telling the jah-ee that he was the king. What did the jah-ee know of kings? A leader was a leader. The jah-ee understood… Max was the leader; He was the bird that led the formation.**

**Next, Max sent the jah-ee a mental image of his double and let the bird know that this was the true leader here in this dimension. He wasn't certain that the bird understood the concept of dimensions, but it did understand that both Maxes were the king, or leader of the people, one here and one in another place, where other jah-ees lived.**

**Finally, Max sent the jah-ee an image of Kivar and Nicholas hurting the young Zan and taking his place against the will of the other people. Then he "told" the bird that his double had returned to take back his rightful place. The jah-ee understood, and it trusted Max. Max spoke its "language." Max was different than the others. He was the leader. The jah-ee felt this and knew intuitively that it was right. It also knew what Max had done for another jah-ee. He had saved its life and the lives of its nestlings by healing its broken wing so that it could return to its island and feed its young. Max didn't tell the jah-ee this. It picked the images out of his mind… out of his memories.**

**The jah-ee knew that Max was its friend… and if Max was its friend, his friends were its friends. They might not be able to communicate with it the way Max could, but they were not its enemies… so they would not become its prey. It might have been a little easier on Ta'lan and Rahn at that moment, of course, if they could have read the huge bird's mind the way it read Max's and known this themselves for a fact. Fortunately, they both trusted Max… but that did not make them much less jittery in the presence of a bird that normally would have considered them not much more than a convenience meal. In mythology, the jah-ee was capable of flying away with people and even with yeggs, large animals somewhat like hairy water buffalos. Even pawgors gave the jah-ee a wide berth, mostly out of caution and uncertainty, but undoubtedly wisely, considering that a mere scratch from the jah-ee's claws would bring on swift paralysis and inescapable death.**

**Up and down the street, dozens of Ke'cjes peered cautiously out of their windows, most of them holding the curtains in front of themselves, hoping not to be seen by the jah-ee as they tried to steal a glimpse of the "mythical" bird that frightened Antarians, including Ke'cjes, half to death even though most did not believe… or only half-believed… that it really existed.**

**Max took several steps toward the jah-ee, and the huge bird reflexively lifted its wings and opened its enormous eagle-like beak. Tess, Angie Lee, Kyle, and a couple of others quickly stepped back into the house, and curtains all up and down the street were instantly drawn shut tightly; but the bird put its wings back down, and, slowly, its mouth closed again. Max walked up to the jah-ee and touched it… then stroked it gently… soothingly. The bird relaxed. It seemed that this meeting was causing jitters on both sides, even in the fearsome jah-ee, but those misgivings were rapidly being put to rest. After several moments, Max's younger double approached the huge bird and cautiously extended his hand to touch it, too… then Rahn did, followed by Ta'lan… then, one by one, the others all edged closer and touched it, too. The bird no longer felt afraid. Under normal circumstances, of course, it would have had nothing to fear from these people. It would have never crossed paths with them. And if it had, it would probably have taken them back to its island as food for its babies. But standing here now and allowing itself to be touched like this was something that it was not accustomed to. It made the huge bird vulnerable. And that was a feeling that the jah-ee was not accustomed to.**

**"Try communicating with it," Max said to his younger double.**

**"How do I do that?"**

**"You think in pictures, and it reads your thoughts. It doesn't understand words. It sees picture thoughts… and sometimes memories. But it can only do that if you form picture thoughts for it to understand. If you concentrate, you should be able to receive thought images from it, too."**

**"I thought I was having hallucinations."**

**"So you did see them?"**

**"I don't know… I saw something. It was… strange."**

**"In the beginning it is. You have to learn to think like a bird… like a jah-ee. To tell it that you're the king, you have to picture yourself as the leader of the people. The jah-ee wouldn't know a king from a street sweeper, even if you put a crown on yourself."**

**"How do I 'picture' a leader?"**

**"Make yourself the lead bird in the formation."**

**The younger Max nodded. "Some day I'm going to make you tell me how you figured all this out, Max. I'm really starting to wonder about you."**

**The older Max grinned just a bit. "I've led an interesting life."**

**The younger Max concentrated, forming a mental image in his head of two jah-ees side by side. One of them was himself, the other was the jah-ee in front of him. Almost immediately, he saw an image return to him. In it, he was sitting in the jah-ee's nest.**

**"What did you see," Liz asked.**

**Max shook his head. "I tried to tell it I wanted to be its friend. I'm not sure what its answer was. Either it agreed or it wants to take me home and raise me as one of its children… or feed me to them."**

**The older Max chuckled. "It was agreeing. It wants you to be its friend. To the jah-ee, friends are family. You're a part of its family now. The nest you saw would be the nest she grew up in. She's made you a sibling."**

**Max suddenly received another mental picture. In it, he saw all of them sitting in the jah-ee's nest together. He looked at his older double, who, of course, had seen it, too.**

**The older Max smiled. "We're all family. She's accepted us all." **

**"Cool," Kyle exclaimed quietly. "I have a mythological giant bird for a sister!"**

**"I had nothing to do with it," Jim vowed, shaking his head, "I swear. Remember, I'm from the other dimension."**

**Liz and Maria laughed and nodded, giving Jim an "Oh, yeah, and we're supposed to believe that" look. Max shook his head and groaned but smiled.**

**"Actually," Alex said cheerfully, "we're all one big family now… jah-ee, shapeshifters, Antarians, earthlings, different dimensions, and all. I think it's kind of excellent myself."**

**"Yeah, I can live with it," Jim agreed.**

**"Yeah, me, too," Angie Lee added, "I think it's sweet." **

**The other girls all nodded.**

**"Well…" Max from the other dimension said, changing the subject, "sweet or not, we've got serious business to discuss with her. I was thinking that with a little help from her and her friends, the other jah-ees, we might be able to get Nicholas out of the castle and out of our lives a lot quicker… and maybe without any of us getting killed."**

**"It might work," Michael concurred. "Yeah, it just might. I like it. Can you get that idea across to her? Will she do it?"**

**Max concentrated and formed several pictures in his mind. The first was a picture of Nicholas in the palace. The second was a picture of himself and Michael using themselves as decoys to lure Nicholas and his guards out of the palace. The third picture was of the younger Max taking Nicholas' place as the lead 'bird', with Michael at his wingtip. The fourth picture was of the jah-ees, together with Jim, Kyle, Alex, Rahn, and others ambushing Nicholas and his guards once they were out of the castle. The fifth picture was Nicholas and his guards tied up and under arrest.**

**Almost instantly, Max received a mental picture back. In it, the jah-ees had Nicholas and his guards in their talons and were flying back to their island with them.**

**Max looked at his double. Both of them had understood the jah-ee's meaning.**

**"They hunt for food," the older Max said, "And they kill to defend themselves and their own kind from enemies. They don't understand the concept of arresting someone. If there is a disagreement, it ends in something being dead."**

**The younger Max grimaced slightly then nodded. "Well, maybe they'll let us take the prisoners if we say we're going to eat them ourselves."**

**The older Max started to say something then smiled and shook his head. "Let's just take it as it comes. If Nicholas or any of the guards surrender and throw down their weapons, we'll spare their lives. I think I can convince the jah-ee. But if they fight on, there'll be no reason NOT to let the jah-ees have them."**

**"I like Max's idea," Michael from the other dimension said. "If they won't give up, and the jah-ees have to catch them, let the jah-ees have 'em.**

**"Ewww," Maria groaned, standing behind Michael. **

**Michael turned around and looked at her. "Do you have a better idea?"**

**"No. I like your idea. But it's still gross."**

**Michael nodded. "Well, you don't have to share their meal. You can always say you're not hungry."**

**"Ewwww," Liz, Maria, Angie Lee, and Tess all said as one. Isabel just shook her head.**

**"I'm kidding," Michael said with a tone of exasperation. "Sheesh! If the jah-ees get them they'll take them back to their island to eat them anyway."**

**"Ewwww," several of the girls moaned again. Michael shrugged.**

**"Then it's agreed," Max said. "She's willing to help and so are her mate and three grown babies. They already know."**

**"You asked them… from here… with mental telepathy?" Alex asked.**

**Max shook his head. "She told them herself. They're excited about helping."**

**Max turned to Ta'lan and Rahn… "Will you be with us, too?"**

**Ta'lan nodded.**

**"I will be with you," Rahn said with absolute certainty. "You rescued me from sixty years of imprisonment beneath the army base… It is the least I can do for you."**

**"You've done a lot for us already," Liz said. "You're not under any obligation, Rahn. Any debt you had has been paid back several times over."**

**Rahn smiled. "I still wish to help you."**

**Max patted Rahn on the back and smiled appreciatively. "Thanks, Rahn. Welcome onboard. Ta'lan… you, too. Let's make some plans."**

**----------**

**The palace looked deceptively peaceful in the morning light. Several different kinds of birds were singing in the trees, and long-tail golden zerpias strutted confidently through the gardens and around the palace grounds. No guards were visible. Nicholas had become quite confident since he had taken over the palace. Several factions had sworn to dislodge him, but none had the power to do it. Some had tried, and all had been crushed. Others had simply decided to back off and wait for a better day when they might have the upper hand. But for now, Nicholas had no doubt who had the upper hand on Antar… He did. And no one was telling him otherwise. **

**Max and his double, together with Michael and his double, made their way stealthily to a secret tunnel that began just outside the palace grounds and ran beneath the palace directly to the throne room. Max wondered if Nicholas had ever found his personal royal escape tunnel. He doubted that he had. It was only accessible by Max's handprint. Both the entrance and the exit were invisible until touched by his hand… or by his younger double's hand in this case. He suspected either one could open it. They were both, after all, Max.**

**The younger Max activated the entrance, and Jim looked around. Seeing no guards yet, he hurried Max and Michael and their doubles into the tunnel. Then he turned back to Kyle and Alex, who were with him…**

**"Get ready. They're in."**

**Kyle and Alex both nodded silently and positioned themselves where they would not be seen until they were ready to attack. Nearby, Liz, Maria, Isabel, Tess, Angie Lee, Varec, and Ta'lan waited, too, hidden from sight.**

**Max and Michael and their doubles made their way silently through the tunnel for several minutes until they came to a stone door. The older Max opened it, proving to himself that their handprints actually were identical. They were the same person… in two different dimensions… One was just a few years younger. Beyond the stone door, several diverging tunnels went off in different directions. Three went to the palace… one to the throne room, one to Max's personal chambers, and one to a large office of sorts. Three others ran on and on and eventually dead-ended miles away in a bog. Those three were decoys. In a very real sense, though, from the stone door on, even the tunnels that went to the palace were an underground maze. The older Max, who knew the way, led the group toward the throne room. **

**Fifteen minutes later, they stood before another door.**

**"On the other side of this wall and door is the throne room," the older Max said quietly. "I'll open the door and sneak in with Michael. The other two of you stay in the tunnel. Michael and I will make sure that we get spotted so that Nicholas and the guards will chase us out of the throne room. When everyone is out, you two come out of the tunnel and take the throne. Seal the doors from the inside so they can't get back in. It is important that Max be sitting on the throne. You'll understand why later."**

**The younger Max nodded, and his older double pressed his hand to the door. It opened ever so slightly, and ever so silently, and Max and Michael stepped out at the back of an alcove. Max peeked around the corner. Nicholas was sitting on the throne. Max had never seen the real Nicholas in his true original form, but Michael saw him when he went back to the past. The older Max did recognize him, though, from pictures he had seen. He looked bored. Nearby were two guards. They looked bored, too. Neither one was paying much attention to his job, which would have been to defend their master, the usurper of the throne, Nicholas. The fact is, for some time now, no one had challenged Nicholas' claim to the throne. Nicholas and his guards had grown careless.**

**"You won't be bored long," Max thought to himself. Carefully, he slipped out of the alcove and made his way behind the somnolent guards with Michael. Max nodded, and both of them held up one hand each. Glimpsing the intruders as they moved behind them, the two guards seemed to wake up and turned around suddenly… but not in time. Instantly, two power bursts shot forward, knocking the guards completely out of the throne room. That seemed to wake Nicholas up from his boredom-induced stupor in a flash. Cursing loudly, Nicholas shouted for reinforcements and grabbed a modified TAZIER gun that he kept beside the throne.**

**Max and Michael ran from the throne room, and Nicholas followed, screaming profanities… some at them… but most at his guards, who had still not shown up to catch the intruders. They soon would, however… and in larger numbers than either Max or Michael had thought Nicholas had readily available. Within moments, there were at least twenty guards behind them, armed to the hilt, and each one anxious to make the kill himself. Max and Michael ran faster, pausing occasionally only to throw power bolts to slow their pursuers down. So far, they had managed to stay just far enough ahead of the guards and Nicholas to keep from getting disintegrated by a TAZIER ray.**

**The TAZIER was a wicked weapon developed by Kivar's scientists. It actually set off a chain reaction inside the victim who was hit by it. The victim's aura would glow brightly for several moments then explode, releasing the victim's atoms into the cosmos. Kivar had loved this weapon; and in Kivar's absence, Nicholas found that he had become pretty fond of it, too. Now Max and Michael were having to dodge its blasts as they ran, searching for a way out of the palace that would not be blocked or heavily defended.**

**At some point in the chase, Nicholas returned to the throne room to retrieve another weapon, a special obsidian blade that he intended to use if he had the chance, and to recharge his TAZIER. Much to his dismay and irritation, he found the throne room doors sealed shut. In spite of this, it never occurred to him that anyone might be inside. He assumed that the guards had closed the doors to keep more intruders out. Unable to open the doors, he began to curse and scream for the guards. Within seconds, three of them were at his side.**

**"Open this door! Now! I need to get into my throne room!"**

**All three guards, in turn, hurried to try to open the door, but it refused to budge.**

**"We can't open it," one of the guards finally admitted. **

**Incredulous and red with fury, Nicholas screamed at the guards, "You closed it! What do you mean you can't open it?"  
  
**

**"No, your highness. We didn't close it."**

**"Liar! How dare you! If this TAZIER still had a charge, I'd use it on you right now! If you didn't close the doors, then who…"**

**Nicholas paused and began to blanche, as the realization struck him. "The devil take you all! You let them get control of the throne! I'll have you all executed!"**

**The guards stammered, falling over each other trying to apologize and deny any culpability at the same time.**

**"Never mind. Find those two intruders that we chased out of the throne room. I want them captured and questioned. Then I intend to have the personal satisfaction of TAZIERing them both. Go! Go! Go! Get out of here!"**

**Without a word, the guards ran, thankful to just be leaving alive. They all knew very well what the TAZIER would do… and they all knew equally well how much Nicholas enjoyed using it.**

**In the palace grand hall, meanwhile, Max and Michael had slipped behind two large columns seconds before the guards who were chasing them got there. The guards entered the grand hall and looked around cautiously, pointing their TAZIERs each way as they turned. They saw nothing. Nothing moved… Nothing made a sound. The guards fanned out to walk around the grand hall from different sides, and as they did, both Max and Michael leapt out from behind the columns and fired off several quick blasts from the palms of their hands. It was enough to drop six of the guards, but there were still a dozen left, and now they knew where Max and Michael were. From both sides, the remaining guards tried to close in, pointing their TAZIERs at Max and Michael, who were caught in between.**

**Michael made a circular motion with his finger to Max, and Max nodded. Both of them dove to the floor and rolled back into a standing position. The guards fired, missing Max and Michael but hitting two of their own, one on each side. Max and Michael didn't wait to see what would happen to the two who had been hit. They scrambled for the door and headed down the outer passageway in the direction of the sleeping chambers. The remaining guards stood where they were for several moments, watching with morbid fascination as the two victims' auras began to glow brightly, one a grayish-green, the other an ambery yellow, and finally exploded, releasing billions of tiny atoms that spread out like two miniature atomic explosions then just disappeared into nothingness. The two stricken guards were no more. Suddenly, the remaining guards realized that the intruders were getting away…**

**Max ducked into one of the sleeping chambers, and Michael followed him, blasting a window out with a power surge from the palm of his hand as they ran in. Both Max and Michael dove through the window just as the guards came rushing in behind them. Ten guards leapt through the window, following Max and Michael out of the palace and onto the palace grounds, then they looked around to see which way the two had gone.**

**"This way," one guard said, pointing toward the east wing of the palace. The others all followed him, armed with their now nearly-depleted TAZIERS.**

**"Go get some more weapons," the lead guard yelled at the one right behind him. The power in my TAZIER is almost depleted."**

**"What do you want me to get?"**

**"Whatever works and is loaded or charged up. Anything! Just get some more weapons! And find Nyykto!" The guard looked around for a moment then shook his head thoughtfully. "On second thought, don't bother Nyykto. I'm sure he'll find us soon enough."**

**"Yes, sir!"**

**The second guard ran off, and the others followed the first one toward the east wing of the palace, in the direction Max and Michael had run.**

**Max and Michael, meanwhile, had hidden again, this time inside a hollow, barrel-like plant called a "T'pi" with a large flower on top of it. The huge yellow flower more than covered the opening of the T'pi, making it invisible, but Max and Michael knew that it was there, between the petals. The guards all rushed by; and once they were past, Max and Michael hopped out of the T'pi and ran toward the place where their friends were waiting for them. They almost made it.**

**Half way there, a shot rang out and Max fell. Michael stopped to help him.**

**"No, Michael, don't stop. Keep running!"**

**"I'm not leaving you, Max."**

**"It's okay. It's just my leg. I can heal it."**

**Michael helped Max to his feet. "Hold onto me. I'll help you." **

**As Max put his arm over Michael's shoulder, Jim, Kyle, Liz, and Alex rushed up to help, too. Max grimaced. "You shouldn't be out here in the open like this… any of you. Go get back behind shelter!"**

**"Shut up, Max," Alex said, clearly intending to disobey the royal order. **

**The five of them hurried to get to cover together, but the guards were closing on them fast. That's when all semblance of normality ended. Suddenly, the guards looked up. In the sky above them were at least ten of the largest birds any of them had ever seen, and it looked like they were coming straight for them. Immediately, the guards turned their attention away from Max, Michael, and those helping them and focused on the danger from above. Some mutterings of "jah-ee" were heard, and some said that there was no such thing, but an ear-piercing, war-like cry of "jaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh-eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" from one of the birds convinced even the most skeptical among them.**

**As the guards turned their weapons toward the birds, the birds swooped down on them, grabbing four of them in huge talons. Two others received minor scratches as the birds swooped past them to grab their companions. Within seconds, the two who had been scratched began to feel numb and were unable to move their arms. Moments after that, they fell to the ground, unable to move their legs or even their eyelids. The scene among the few guards who were now left was pure panic and pandemonium. They ran every which way, occasionally shooting at the huge birds, but mostly trying to find any place they could to hide.**

**As they watched the scene before them play out, Max and the others didn't notice that two new guards had come up behind them. Before they could react, the new guards had weapons pointed at them. Kyle started to rush them, but he realized that it was too dangerous. Someone would get shot.**

**"Who are you," one of the two guards asked gruffly.**

**"Don't you know?" Max asked.**

**"No."**

**"He's your king, stupid," Alex said.**

**The guard shook his head. "Zan is dead. You look like him, but you can't be Zan. I'm asking you again… Who are you?"**

**"I'm Zan."**

**The guard looked frustrated. "Alright, have it your way."**

**"Would it matter if he really is Zan," Jim asked.**

**The guards looked at each other and seemed to think about it.**

**"Sure," the second guard said. "It would matter."**

**"You'd let him go?" Kyle asked.**

**The guard shook his head. "I'd get a bonus for turning him over to Nyykto to kill."**

**Kyle sighed. "Just thought I'd ask."**

**While Kyle, Jim, and Alex had kept the guards occupied with small talk, the guards hadn't realized that they, in turn, had been compromised. Maria, Isabel, Varec, Angie Lee, and Tess had come up quietly behind them, and Tess had her hand up, palm out, prepared to fire a blast of power at whichever one turned around first. For a moment, no one said anything, then Maria raised a club that she had in her hand.**

**Noticing the look in Kyle's eyes, one of the guards grinned. "Don't even think about telling me there's someone behind me. It's an old trick, and it won't work."**

**Suddenly, the tree branch club in Maria's hand descended on his head, sending him sprawling to the ground unconscious. The other guard turned around quickly and received a power blast to the chest from Tess.**

**"It's an old trick," Kyle said, "and it still works… especially when my Aces are lined up behind you."**

**Kyle dragged the two unconscious men to one side, and the group looked to see what was going on in the clearing now. A number of jah-ees were still circling above. At least four had flown away with their prey, undoubtedly back to their island. The remaining guards were nowhere to be seen. They were either hiding or had been caught. Either way, it appeared that there was no longer anyone out in the open to shoot at anybody. Max finished healing his leg, then he and Michael walked out into the field and looked around.**

**"Do you think we got them all, Max? Do you think the jah-ees got Nicholas?"**

**"I don't know… maybe. We'll have to go back in the palace and see if we find anybody inside."**

**As Max spoke, a shot rang out from a hiding place nearby. Max and Michael ducked then dropped down onto the ground. **

**"Was he shooting at us?"**

**"I don't know. Where is he?"**

**"Over there… behind that bluff."**

**As they spoke, Max noticed that one of the jah-ees was descending rapidly. At first, they thought she had spotted the shooter and was going after him, but it soon became obvious that this was not the case. The jah-ee's fall was out of control.**

**"She's been hit," Max said, a feeling of intense dread coming over him. **

**The bird crashed to the ground hard, its sixty-foot wings partially extended, its head lying on one side, its eyes closed. Max and Michael rushed to its side to see if there was anything they could do, and as they knelt beside the bird, they were both hit with something hard from behind. When they could finally see again, they looked up into the face of… Nicholas.**

**"You two have caused me a lot of trouble. I'm going to enjoy killing you… like this bird. What were you thinking… if you got some big stupid birds to help you, you could take over my throne?"**

**Max groaned.**

**"How did you get back to Antar from that backwards little planet they sent you to," Nicholas asked. "The one they call 'earth.'"**

**Neither Max nor Michael spoke.**

**"Okay, suit yourselves. I didn't want any boring conversations anyway. I'm just here to finish what my former guards were too incompetent to do."**

**Nicholas raised his TAZIER. Max assumed that it was now fully-charged again.**

**"Which one do I eliminate first? Choices, choices! Life is so hard for me! Hmmm… the one with the low forehead and stupid look in his eyes? That would be Rath. …or the moron who would be king… Zan the Last? It's a hard decision."**

**As Nicholas mocked Max and Michael, Max noticed a movement in the jah-ee. He motioned to Michael with his eyes. Michael saw it, too. The jah-ee moved again then began to writhe on the ground. Nicholas scowled…**

**"Looks like I have to shoot it again. I wonder what a TAZIER would do to a jah-ee. Why don't we find out?"**

**Nicholas didn't have time to lift the TAZIER. The jah-ee writhed one last time, and where it had been, a huge serpent appeared. Immediately, the serpent threw coil after coil of its huge, heavy body around Nicholas faster than he could react. Staring out from between the coils with wide, terrified eyes, Nicholas looked like he had just met his maker, and the fact of the matter was, he probably was about to. The serpent squeezed tighter and tighter until Nicholas could no longer breathe in a single breath and began to lose consciousness. He heard several ribs crack. Once Nicholas lost consciousness, the snake slowly released him. Then it began to change shape again, this time turning into a man… **

**It was Rahn. **

**Max and Michael rushed to check him over and see if he was okay.**

**"I'm fine, Max. When I shifted, I fixed the wound."**

**"Rahn, we are really, really, REALLY glad to see you and to see that you're okay!"**

**"I enjoyed being a jah-ee. I may do it again sometime." Rahn looked down at the unconscious form of Nicholas lying on the ground… "What are you going to do with him, Max?"**

**Max grinned. "Well, he doesn't look very appetizing to me. I don't think I want to eat him. I guess we'll have to build a jail to put him in. Where are the real jah-ees?"**

**"They all flew back to their island with their prey. The ones up there in the sky now are Ke'cjes."**

**Max stared at the huge "jah-ees" circling high overhead. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. Rahn looked at them, too, but his mind was on something else…**

**"Did the king succeed in taking back his throne?" **

**Max searched the sky and pointed to an area to the southeast. All the planets of the Antarian solar system could be seen diverging in two different directions away from Antar. Antar was the nexus, joining them together in a "V" pattern. Only now, the planets shone much more brightly than Rahn remembered ever seeing them in any recent times; and high above the palace, a swirling symbol had appeared in the sky.**

**"I never saw that before," Rahn said with amazement. "What caused it to appear?"**

**"It appears anytime the true king sits on his throne again after having been away for forty days or more. It would be the first time in more than sixty years that it's appeared," Max explained.**

**Rahn thought about this for several moments… "But I was here before that… and I never saw it before." **

**Max nodded. "The king was rarely gone for that long in times past, so few people living today would have ever seen the sign in the sky… or the brightening of the planets."**

**"How is that accomplished," Ta'lan asked.**

**"It's merely a side effect of the phenomena that cause the symbol to appear. The sky is clearer. The energy needed to produce the symbol ionizes the air, cleansing it and giving it a magnifying effect, so the stars and planets appear to shine many times more brightly, and larger, for at least two or three days."**

**Ta'lan nodded, beginning to understand. "And our people see these things from all over Antar… maybe even on other planets in our system… and they know that the king has returned."**

**"The real king," Rahn added. "The king descended through the royal line since the beginning of our civilization as we know it. Not some tyrant king like Kivar or pretend emperor like Nyykto."**

**Ta'lan nodded.**

**The entire group had by now rejoined Max, Michael, Rahn, and Ta'lan and had heard the explanations Max gave for the strange symbol in the sky and the unheralded sudden brightness of the planets in their system. These things were not new to the "Antarian" doubles from the other dimension. Michael, Kyle, and Varec had seen them when Max retook the throne there, but Max had also been away several times since then for more than forty days, so the others from their dimension, even those who came later, had seen them, too. But it was all new to the younger group, as well as to most Antarians, in this dimension. **

**"Let's go check out the palace," Max said, putting one arm around his Liz and the other protectively around the Liz from this dimension. "Your husband awaits you inside, Liz… on the throne. Come on everyone. Rahn, can you ask one of your people to tie Nyykto up or something?"**

**Rahn nodded. "With great pleasure."**

**As the group approached the palace, the younger Max and Michael met them outside the entrance. Having been informed by Kyle that Nicholas had been defeated, they had unsealed the throne room. Max smiled as his double approached with Liz. Then he swooped her up into his arms.**

**"Max…! What are you doing? I can walk now. I'm not paralyzed anymore."**

**"I'm carrying you over the threshold into our new house… our new home… your majesty."**

**Liz looked at Max, and in his eyes, she saw something new… a depth and feeling that she had not noticed before… the collective reflections of all their trials, all their experiences, all their pains and joys and hopes. Everything had come together to create this man that was Max, or Zan, as the people here would call him now… their king… **

**"I don't think I'll ever get used to being called 'your majesty,' Max," Liz said, looking around the palace with amazement as Max carried her in… "But you may not EVER be able to get me out of here! This is incredible! I don't have to clean this whole place, do I?"**

**Max shook his head, as he set Liz down lightly on her feet. **

**Then he kissed her.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The Uniter**


	53. Dreams52

The Night The Dreams Died 

**The Uniter**

**Chapter 52**

**LII******

**Max watched as his younger double sat in solitude on the royal throne, lost in thought, his elbow resting on his knee and his chin resting on the back of his hand. It was a pose that vaguely reminded Max of something he had seen somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.**

**"Yo, Max. How's our new king doing?"**

**Max turned around to find Michael standing behind him.**

**"Your double there looks like that statue in the Dobie Gillis show, what's it called… The Thinker?"**

**Max looked back at his younger double then back again at Michael.**

**"Well, doesn't he?"**

**Max raised his eyebrows. "Dobie Gillis?"**

**"Yeah… Oh, come on, don't tell me you never saw Dobie Gillis."**

**Max shook his head. "Is that another one of those prehistoric sitcoms you thrive on?"**

**"I don't thrive on them… and it's not prehistoric."**

**"Is it color?"**

**"No."**

**"It's prehistoric!"**

**"You don't have any sense of culture, Max."**

**Max smiled. "I saw an episode of 'I Dream Of Jeannie' once."**

**"Ooh!" Michael laughed. "Okay, well, that's cool, I guess. "Those old shows are all classics, Max. They're history."**

**"Yeah, well, you should know a lot about history, Michael."**

**Michael winced. The implication of what Max was saying was not lost on him. He had only recently returned from a long and difficult journey into their past, and it had almost ended in disaster.**

**"Some good things came out of that, too, Max."**

**Max nodded. "I know. Jeffy for one."**

**Max rubbed his eyes and shook his head, and Michael swallowed hard, and both of them became misty-eyed at the mention of Max's youngest child. **

**"You're feelin' it, too, aren't you, Max?"**

**Max nodded solemnly. Both of them felt it keenly. Liz and Maria were feeling it even more deeply, if that was possible. They all knew that they had been away from home too long. This wasn't just any trip they had embarked on this time. They were in a completely different dimension… who even knew how far away from their children and families. Dimensions aren't measured in miles. They had never done this before. There simply was no way to even get a message back home. **

**"Come on, Max… Let's see what your double is thinking about so hard."**

**Michael walked over to the throne and slapped Max's younger double on the back playfully… "Kyrin for your thoughts."**

**The younger Max looked up, but his look lacked Michael's enthusiasm… **

**"Kyrin?"**

**Michael grinned. "Okay, you've only been here at the palace for one day, I guess, so I'll cut you a little slack. It's a coin, and it has your picture on it."**

**"Really? Why would I want that? Was I like a Caesar or something?"**

**"I don't think you did it. The royal mint did it on their own."**

**"Oh… well… is it valuable?"**

**"It's worth about a penny."**

**The young Max nodded. **

**"So what were you thinking about so hard just now?"**

**"I was just wondering… about, you know, things."**

**The older Max nodded understandingly. "You can't stand sitting here waiting, can you?"**

**The younger Max looked up again and sighed. "Yeah. It's not easy. I feel like I should be doing something useful."**

**"You are," Michael said, "You're occupying the throne."**

**"Oh, right, well, that'll get me a big butt," Max replied cynically. "I need to be up and around… doing things."**

**"Well… take a break for awhile then. Even a mother hen takes a break from sitting on her eggs now and then, so I guess you can take one, too. You don't have to sit there forever anyway… just until the other pretenders to the throne see the symbol in the sky and show up to try to knock you off."**

**"You're not afraid the symbol will disappear if I get up?"**

**"It won't. Even if you left now, it would stay up there for at least a couple of days. But when those guys get here, they need to see the real king sitting on his throne."**

**"You think that'll make a difference to them?"**

**"I doubt it. But we can hope."**

**Max sighed. "I'm tired of sitting here doing nothing. The sky symbol's not going to go away. I'm going to see what I can do around here. If anyone shows up, just keep them occupied until I'm back on the throne. Play checkers with them or something… Maybe… what's that Antarian game you like… Jaht-Roo?"**

**The older Max chuckled. "Yeah. I can see that happening!" **

**But Max knew that his younger double was right. He had to stay active. They all did. There was entirely too much pent up energy and anticipation in all of them to spend any amount of time at all sitting on a throne or being idle.**

**In a nearby part of the palace, meanwhile, Liz, Maria, Tess, and their doubles were checking out the sleeping accommodations together. Liz opened yet another door and looked around the room then smiled approvingly…**

**"Ooh! This one's even nicer! I like it! I wonder if Max would like the color, though?"**

**"Why don't you ask him," a voice said. Liz whirled around to find the younger Max, her Max, standing behind her. She threw herself into his arms, and he kissed her for several long moments. Then he let her go, albeit grudgingly.**

**"I didn't know you were there, Max. You surprised me."**

**"Good thing it was me, huh? You could have been throwing yourself into someone else's arms."**

**"Well, I knew it wasn't Maria or Tess… unless their voices got seriously deep and weird all of a sudden."**

**"Yeah, Liz does know your voice, Max," Tess said, chuckling.**

**"Okay, but how'd you know I wasn't my double? He sounds just like me."**

**Liz raised her eyebrows and smiled as though thinking about that question. **

**Max looked at Maria. Maria shook her head and winked at Liz.**

**Max looked back at Liz again, and she giggled. "Don't worry, Max. I knew it was you. A girl knows those things. Call it wsp."**

**"WSP?"**

**Maria rolled her eyes. "Woman's sensory perception. Follow the clues, Max."**

**Max nodded. "I like it."**

**"You like WSP?" **

**"The color of the room," Max said with a smile. He turned to Liz. "But you pick the one you like, Liz. That'll be the one for us."**

**"I liked that one two rooms back," Maria said. "If I had my pick, that'd be my choice."**

**"Then it's yours," Max said. "You want to tell Michael yourself or you want me to?"**

**"I'll tell him… I mean… I'll see if he likes it, too."**

**"He will," Max said. "Trust me."**

**Max looked at Angie Lee. **

**"I liked all of them," Angie Lee said honestly. "Can we look at the rest of them?"**

**Liz, Maria, and Tess seconded, "thirded," and "fourthed" Angie Lee's request. **

**Max nodded and took Liz by the hand, then they turned and walked toward the next room, as the others followed. It was a long walk. **

**"Well, I'll say this… this certainly isn't like anything on the reservation," Angie Lee mused, as the group walked down the long hallway together. "These rooms are, like, major serious suites!"**

**"Yeah, it's no Motel 6," Tess agreed, "You're sure not going to hear what's going on in the next room… it's like a mile away!"**

**Max nodded. "You won't have to worry about the TV being turned up too loud in the next room or some idiot learning to tap dance on the ceiling above you. Privacy here is GUARANTEED." **

**Max opened the next door, and the girls looked in; and as one, they gave out a collective gasp. Shocked, Max looked past them to see what had caused it. On the other side of the large room, on the bed, sat a little boy with his back to them, looking out the window. The boy turned around and smiled, then he looked straight at Maria. Maria gasped, and her mouth dropped open… "Oh my God!" **

**Rushing past the others, Maria quickly scooped the boy up into her arms. **

**"How did… where… When did you…? Let me look at you! It really is you! How…?"**

**"That's Kryys," the younger Liz said, recognizing the boy. "He's Maria and Michael's youngest son… from their dimension. I met him when I was… well… I met him once."**

**By this time, the older Liz, from the other dimension, was at Maria's side with her, as Maria smothered her youngest son with kisses.**

**"Kryys, where did you come from?" Liz asked.**

**"Home," Kryys answered simply.**

**"But how did you get here? I didn't know you could go through dimensions."**

**"It's all part of the river of time, Aunt Liz. The Drax showed me the way." Kryys turned back to Maria… "I missed you, Mom." **

**Maria choked then broke into tears, as she wrapped Kryys tightly in her arms. When she could speak again, she held Kryys' face in her hands and kissed it… "I've missed you, too, Kryys! I've missed you all! I've missed you so much!" Maria wiped tears from both of her eyes and sniffed. "Are Zorel and Jayyd okay?"**

**Kryys nodded.**

**"Are they happy? Are they being good? Is Zorel doing his studies?"**

**Kryys nodded.**

**"Oh God, Kryys! I'm just… I'm so, so, so, so happy to see you! You just can't know! You can't even imagine!"**

**The younger Liz sat down on the bed beside her older double and Maria and put her arms around them both, tears rolling from her own eyes now, too… "I'm so, so sorry! I've been so selfish… I never thought about you guys… I've just been thinking about us here in this dimension, and I never thought about how much you must miss your children and families and how much you've sacrificed to come here and help us… help me…" Liz tried to wrap her arms around Kryys, too, then she kissed him on the cheek and smiled… "I'm really glad you came, too, Kryys. Can you stay long?"**

**Maria looked at Kryys, suddenly interested in the answer to that question, too.**

**Kryys smiled, almost shyly, and sort of shrugged. "Well, I'll need to go back and tell Zorel and Jayyd and Aunt Kathy and Aunt Jeliya that Mom's okay. But I'm not limited… exactly… in a time way… you know?"**

**"Well, you can tell them when you get back, then, but at least for a little while, you're going to stay right here with me," Maria said firmly. "You have to talk to your Dad, too. You can't leave without talking to him!"**

**"I won't," Kryys replied with a broad grin. "I came to see Dad, too."**

**"Well, he's going to be surprised to see you," Maria said. "Boy, is he going to be surprised!"**

**"Kryys, how are Jeffy and Alyyx and my girls," the older Liz asked.**

**"They're fine, Aunt Liz. Aunt Kathy and Aunt Jeliya are taking good care of them all… with my help."**

**Liz and Maria both laughed, and Maria ran her hand through Kryys' hair then hugged and kissed him again. "I'm sure that's true, sweetheart. I'm sure that's true."**

**"And Jiba and Drel?" Tess asked nervously.**

**"They're fine, too, Aunt Tess," Kryys replied. "They miss you and Uncle Rayylar, though."**

**Tess closed her eyes, and tears ran down her cheeks. She nodded and smiled. "I miss them, too. You'll tell them that when you go back, won't you, Kryys? Tell them I'm gonna be back home soon, and when I am, I'm gonna hug them and kiss them a million times… till they can't stand it anymore and have to beg me to stop."**

**Kryys nodded. "Sure, Aunt Tess. I'll tell them."**

**"And mine, too," Liz added.**

**"I'll tell them, too. I promise."**

**Liz smiled. If Kryys were any other child, they might have had to remind him several times… and then hope he remembered… but they all knew that Kryys was as good as his word. In some strange way, he truly was all little boy… playing and laughing like any other 7–year-old; but at the same time, Kryys was oddly grown-up… even beyond grown-up… in fact, sometimes, it seemed, almost ancient. That, Liz thought, probably described him best… ancient. **

**But the little boy sitting in front of them now, as his mom cuddled and hugged him, seemed to belie that description. He was just a smiling 7-year-old… who missed his Mom. Unlike other 7-year-olds, though, Kryys was capable of finding his Mom on the other side of another dimension and going to her. And he didn't need the sphere. Not that it would have done any good if he had had it. The sphere couldn't travel through dimensions. Until now, no one knew that Kryys could.**

**"Is the Drax-ta-kiya here, too, Kryys," Maria asked, suddenly remembering that Kryys had mentioned the ancient seer of Jeroglasst, who had become Kryys' mentor after his special abilities were discovered.**

**Kryys smiled then shook his head. "No. He showed me the way, but he stayed there. He said my abilities are greater than his… he just shows me the way now. But I think he can do anything he wants to do really."**

**Maria nodded. "You're probably right, Kryys… You're probably right."**

**"But Uncle Kyle is here," Kryys added, almost as an afterthought.**

**"Kyle? He's here?" Liz and Maria both exclaimed at the same time. "How?"**

**"He said he wanted to come with me, and he asked if that was possible. I told him sure. It's not really hard. I took Uncle Max and Aunt Liz to see Jeffy before he came home, Mom… remember?"**

**Maria nodded. "Yeah, but… that was in the same dimension. Where is Uncle Kyle?"**

**"He went to look for Dad and Uncle Max."**

**"Well," the younger Max said, reaching out to offer Kryys a "manly" handshake, "Welcome to the palace, Kryys. Why don't we all go find your Dad and the others. They're going to be verrrry surprised to see you."**

**Kryys smiled and stood up, then Max led the way out the door and back down the long hall, as the others followed. Reaching the end of the hall after a several-minute walk, Max rounded the corner but stopped suddenly and backed up, holding out his hand to stop the others.**

**"What is it," Liz whispered.**

**"I don't know. There's someone in the grand foyer… I don't know them."**

**Max peered around the corner again stealthily. Alex from the other dimension was talking to someone… in Antarian. Actually, it was more than just "someone." It was a lot of "someones." It was impossible to tell for sure how many men were in the grand foyer with Alex, but it was more than a dozen. Not having learned Antarian yet, the younger Max didn't understand a word of what was being said, but he felt quite certain that it would not be wise to just walk in without evaluating what was going on first.**

**"How about a game of checkers… I mean, Jaht-Roo," Alex asked one of the men, looking somewhat like a mischievous child who was trying to misdirect his or her parents away from something they weren't supposed to see.**

**"We're not here to play games. We're here to see the one who's claiming to be the king. We want to see Zan… if he really is Zan."**

**"He is Zan," Alex replied firmly. "I swear!"**

**"What are you hiding then? If Zan is sitting on that throne, let us see it for ourselves!"**

**"He's… uh… busy. He's got a lot of work to attend to. He just got back, you know. A lot of… work… backed up. You know how it is."**

**The big man stared at Alex coldly, and Alex swallowed, knowing that the man was clearly displeased by the attempts to stall him.**

**"I think he will take the time to see me. Tell him Kay'lan is here… with his army. **

**"Kay'lan?"**

**The big man nodded, pounding his right fist into his left hand impatiently for emphasis…**

**"That's right… Kay'lan. Zan knows who I am. I was one of his father's generals… before he and Rath took over."**

**"Oh." Alex winced. "You're not mad at Zan for that, are you?"**

**The big man shook his head slowly but unconvincingly.**

**Alex swallowed again. "Is this your army?" He motioned around the room at the dozen or so other men present. **

**A slow but deliberate smile played over Kay'lan's face, as though he were amused, but not enough so to humor Alex by laughing out loud.**

**"These are my personal… assistants. Some of my army is outside… about 1,700 men. Should I have brought the rest?"**

**"No… No…" Alex shook his head emphatically. "That's probably… enough… Yeah, I think that's enough. I know how hard it is to find transportation when you've got a lot of people…"**

**Kay'lan's eyes seemed to burn through Alex, and Alex gulped silently. He knew he had exhausted Kay'lan's patience and something was going to have to give… probably him… and soon, but Alex was determined not to let Kay'lan into the empty throne room without a fight. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to…**

**Without warning, the room seemed to suddenly fill up with tiny bright lights that swirled chaotically everywhere they looked. Kay'lan and his men immediately adopted a defensive stance, as they watched the billions of brilliant swirling molecules flow around them in all directions for several moments then begin to come together between them and Alex. As the shining atoms began to coalesce, a small boy appeared, standing in the light. The boy was smiling. Kay'lan stood absolutely motionless, seemingly dumbfounded and clearly unsure exactly how he should react to this totally unexpected occurrence. His "assistants," standing beside and behind him, also appeared not to know what to do. **

**Then the boy spoke…**

**"Come… King Zan is waiting. He welcomes you, Kay'lan… and your army." The boy motioned toward the throne room.**

**"Kryys?" Alex muttered to himself, almost in as great a shock as Kay'lan and his men, who had no idea who Kryys was. Having lived on Antar in the other dimension, Alex knew Kryys well, but seeing him here was just about the last thing he had ever expected. **

**Suddenly jolted back to the reality of the present, Alex turned to Kay'lan and smiled with a slight shrug. "I guess Zan is ready to see you."**

**Kay'lan would have scowled at Alex, but his shocked face simply wouldn't form a scowl, so he merely turned and followed the boy into the throne room.**

**Seated on the throne was Zan, with a young Rath standing at attention beside him.**

**"Welcome, Kay'lan. It has been a while."**

**Kay'lan nodded, still clearly in shock. "It has. The throne has accepted you! I saw the sign in the sky, but I thought it was a hoax… I thought… someone had found a way to recreate it. I thought you were dead, Zan."**

**"Kivar thought so, too," Max said, "but he was wrong."**

**"It would seem so," Kay'lan agreed. "It really is you. You look… younger… but it's you. I still do not understand how…"**

**"How is a secret that only I must know for now, Kay'lan. You are a great leader. You will understand."**

**Kay'lan nodded.**

**"Will you want to depose me, too, Kaylan… as Kivar sought to?"**

**Kay'lan swallowed hard, caught off guard by the directness of Zan's question regarding his intentions.**

**"I… I will have to confer with my advisers, Zan… but I was not a traitor. Will you see me as one?"**

**Max shook his head. "You were never a traitor, Kay'lan. You sought to unite my kingdom in my absence… by taking it from Kivar, or by taking it after Kivar was gone, as the case may be. That is what I see… if that is what you tell me is the truth."**

**Kay'lan nodded emphatically. "Yes. That is exactly right. I wanted to unite the kingdom again. You were gone, Zan. I did not know that you were alive. Kivar was a tyrant, it's true, but after he was gone, the kingdom needed unity. Nicholas was strong, but he could not provide unity. I was the reasonable one to provide it… once he was gone."**

**Max nodded. "And so I will see it… I accept your explanation… if you swear your allegiance to the royal house… and to me again. What of the other groups that wish to take my throne from me, Kay'lan? How many are there?"**

**"Four… maybe five. They will come, Zan… of this, I am sure. But they are mostly smaller in number. None of them has as many men as I do… and none of them was ever a traitor to the throne… not when you were here. I do NOT believe that they will defy the true king or seek to take the throne now that you are here. My men and I will swear our allegiance to you, Zan… and we will help to defend the kingdom again… if you will allow it."**

**"I will," Max replied, with a solemn but obviously pleased smile edging over his face. "I believe most of your men were once in my army, Kay'lan… before Kivar took the throne and they joined with you. Perhaps you would honor the kingdom by leading that great army again now… as its general… under Rath. If the other leaders accept, they may be allowed to lead their units, too, as part of the newly-united armies of the Royal House of Antar. As my right-hand man, Rath will be over the combined armies."**

**Kay'lan actually appeared to smile for the first time, then he dropped onto one knee. "I am honored, your majesty. I swear to you the allegiance of my men and myself."**

**"Then you are now General Kay'lan of the Royal House of Antar," Max said.**

**Max knew that he did not need to question Kay'lan's ability to guarantee the allegiance of his own men. Kay'lan was a firm and resourceful leader. He would have their allegiance… and if he swore allegiance to the royal house, his men would follow him resolutely. Zan would earn their trust, too, though he suspected that with many of them, who had known Zan before, he already had it. Like Kay'lan himself, once they knew with certainty that their real king was back, they would swear their allegiance to Zan again of their own choosing.**

**If Max thought that his work for the day had been accomplished successfully and was over, though, he would have been mistaken. Without warning, the door to the throne room, which was not locked, since there were "guests" present already, opened again abruptly and four men came in, followed by a very flustered and protesting Alex.**

**"I tried to stop them."**

**Max nodded. "It's alright."**

**"Lojo!" Kay'lan exclaimed, seeing their leader. "I should have known you'd show your face sooner or later to try to take over the throne!"**

**Lojo looked at Zan then at Rath, clearly surprised to actually find them here.**

**"It looks like I'm not the only one looking to inherit the throne today, Kay'lan. I see you wasted no time getting here yourself."**

**To be a leader one needs to be first," Kay'lan said unapologetically. "The scenery from behind is always the same, and I do not intend to subject myself to it."**

**"Gentlemen!" Max said, holding up his hand for silence, "we do not need to disagree anymore. Lojo, welcome. Kay'lan has sworn his allegiance and that of his men to me, and I have made him a general of the Royal House of Antar… in command of the men who serve under him faithfully. If you are a loyal subject of the king and are willing to swear your allegiance and that of your men to me, too, I will offer you and your men the same consideration. If, on the other hand, you choose not to swear allegiance to the Royal House of Antar, I will require that you disband your army and return to a peaceful life with your family. If you will not do that, Kay'lan and his men will consider you as traitors and enemies of the throne, as will I. The choice is yours." **

**Lojo thought for several moments… "I will be made a general? Like Kay'lan? And I will still lead my men?"**

**"That is what I am promising. I will make the same offer to the others, too. Those who accept will be generals of the Royal House of Antar, and Rath will be over all the armies."**

**"General Lojo… of the Royal House of Antar…" Lojo rolled those words over his tongue to see how they sounded, then he nodded.**

**"I will accept your offer, Zan. I am not a traitor. I came here because I saw the sign in the sky. I believed that Kivar had killed you many years ago, so the only explanation for the sky symbol was that Nicholas had been deposed and someone new had taken over and managed to activate the symbol somehow… or recreated it. In either case, it was… an opportunity. But I was always loyal to you, Zan… you know that."**

**Max nodded. "Then swear your allegiance, Lojo."**

**Lojo kneeled on one knee, as Kay'lan had done before him. "I swear my allegiance and that of the 1,200 men I command to you, Zan, and to the Royal House of Antar. You have my most solemn word. We will defend the kingdom with our honor and our blood."**

**Max smiled. "Then you are now General Lojo of the Royal House of Antar. Rath will take care of coordinating your unit and the others." Max looked at Alex. "Are there any more out there, Alex?"**

**Alex shook his head.**

**Max nodded with relief then turned to Kay'lan and Lojo, "Gentlemen… it is a great honor to be back here with you again. I will be seeing a lot more of you both, but you will understand that I have things that must be attended to now."**

**Kay'lan and Lojo both hurried to dismiss themselves, bowing courteously as they left the throne room. Alex closed the door behind them as they hurried out of the palace to rejoin their armies and spread the word that the king had returned.**

**Alex looked at Max incredulously.**

**"What?"**

**"I didn't know you could speak Antarian, Max. If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd lived here all your life."**

**Max shrugged. "You speak it… and you're just an earthling. I'm part Antarian. Why shouldn't I speak it?" **

**Max's "just an earthling" comment was a teasing put-down rather than a serious one, but he waited to see if it would bring Alex to the defense of earthlings everywhere… **

**Alex wasn't biting… "Yeah, well, I've lived on Antar in my dimension for a lot of years now, Max. I have children there… who speak Antarian. You've been here for what… two days?" Alex looked at Max curiously, and Max smiled…**

**"Ta'lan… you can come in."**

**Ta'lan walked into the throne room with Rahn beside her, and Alex began to understand…**

**"She processed everything you said and everything they said through that speech filter or whatever it is the Ke'cje have so you could understand each other. Very clever, Max. But what will you do when she's not here and they start talking to you? Won't it look suspicious when you just stand there and say, 'duh, huh'?"**

**Max shrugged. "I'll have to take a crash course in Antarian, I guess. And in the meantime, I'll just be a man of few words."**

**Alex looked unconvinced.**

**"Well, Ta'lan and Rahn have agreed to teach me," Max added. "And with her mind push, I can absorb a lot more than I normally would. I can do it."**

**Alex smiled. "Yeah… I think you probably can."**

**Max and Alex turned around to look for Michael. He was carrying Kryys on his back… **

**"Well… he's kind of my son, too. I may have a son just like him someday. He's my double's son, so his double will be my son one day, right? It could be! Come on, Kryys, let's go find your OTHER Dad… and Uncle Kyle." Michael trotted off through the door and down the long hallway with a smiling Kryys clinging to his neck.**

**Max grinned. "You know, I think Michael's gonna make a pretty good Dad to some kids someday."**

**Alex nodded. **

**"He's going to have a heck of a time keeping up with that one, though," Max added.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The Gift Of The Ke'cje**


	54. Dreams53

The Night The Dreams Died 

**New Day, New Life**

**Chapter 53**

**LIII******

**Liz awoke early to the dawning of her second day at the palace, and her third day on Antar, feeling unusually refreshed and well. She stretched her arms out as far as they would go and yawned then relaxed again, letting her head sink back into the large, fluffy pillow. The sun was only beginning to rise outside, but every now and then, something belted out a bright-sounding, "Ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo, ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo." Liz knew it was a bird. It reminded her a lot of a rooster crowing… though it clearly wasn't a rooster. **

**Liz rolled over and looked at Max… and smiled. He was still asleep. Their first two days on Antar had been busy ones. They had met Ta'lan and befriended the jah-ees in this dimension. They had defeated Nicholas and his soldiers and permanently removed them from the palace. And Max had met with and secured the loyalty of two of the faction leaders who had been vying for the throne in his absence, Kay'lan and Lojo. This had gone remarkably well, all things considered. Both Kay'lan and Lojo had once been loyalists, so bringing them back into the fold had not been particularly difficult. They only needed to be convinced that Max was the true king. Both Kay'lan and Lojo initially suspected that someone had faked the sky symbol; but seeing Max on the throne, they realized it was real, that the throne had accepted Max, and that he and the throne were producing the symbol synergistically. Max still didn't know how he did this or what he might be doing to cause it. But the fact is, he didn't have to do anything. It happened because he was who he was, not because of anything that he did. **

**Kivar and Nicholas had both sat on the royal throne, and both had tried every conceivable method to deceive the throne into producing the symbol in the hopes of gaining some measure of respectability and acceptance, albeit fraudulently. They had failed. Kivar's scientists –those who swore him loyalty- never figured out how the synergy worked. The other scientists -the ones who refused to swear their loyalty to Kivar- were deposed to distant planets, sold into slavery, or killed by Kivar outright.**

**Kivar had little patience with scientists, or with anyone else who would not swear him allegiance, but he had used scientists as much as possible… when they would cooperate. Nicholas appeared to prefer brawn over brain. Whereas Kivar had tried to deceive the throne by trickery, Nicholas tried shoving, pushing, and kicking it to cause the symbol to appear. He had even jumped up and down on it. Both had gotten the same results in the end.**

**But today, neither Kivar nor Nicholas was anything more than a mere memory at the palace. The bright-sounding Ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo outside Max and Liz's balcony heralded the dawn of a new day on Antar in more ways than one. The real king had returned… and he had brought with him a new bride. **

**Liz breathed in the fresh air that was coming in through their third floor balcony door, then she rolled over and looked at Max again. She kissed him lightly on the lips. Max smiled in his sleep, and Liz smiled back, as the rising sun shining in through their balcony door played serenely… beautifully… over her hair and face.**

**Standing up carefully to avoid waking Max, Liz made her way to the balcony and looked out at the morning sun. It was wonderful… It warmed her whole body almost magically.**

**"Ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo."**

**Liz looked down at the gardens below. A large number of long-tail golden zerpias could be seen roaming the grounds. She wondered if they had made the crowing sound.**

**"Ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo."**

**That hadn't come from the gardens; it had come from above her… and much closer. Liz looked up at a tree branch that hung just over the edge of the balcony, near her head. On it was a tiny bird no bigger than a hummingbird…**

**"Ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo."**

**Liz rubbed her eyes and looked at the tiny bird again, incredulous. "Did you do that?"**

**"Ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo."**

**"Omigod! It is you! You're so little! How do you do that?"**

**Liz held out her hand, and the tiny bird hopped onto her finger then back onto the branch again. **

**"I wonder what they call you here. You're the littlest rooster… bird I ever saw. That's what I'll call you… a little rooster-bird… a little rooster-hummingbird! How about that?"**

**"Ch-week-o-rrrree-coo-oo."**

**"Good morning to you, too!" Liz replied happily. She closed her eyes and spun around several times on the balcony, soaking in the warm sun. It felt good. **

**As Liz reopened her eyes, she suddenly noticed something that she had not previously seen… people. Lots of people. They were standing outside the palace grounds in the streets. She wondered where they had all come from so quickly. As Liz looked around, she saw even more people beginning to gather in the nearby fields. They continued to arrive, until the streets and nearby grounds were filled to overflowing everywhere she looked. This all happened within minutes… perhaps less. One moment, the sun had been coming up and the little rooster-hummingbird was crowing… the next moment, people were filling the streets and grounds every way she looked. Liz turned back toward Max with a stunned expression on her face.**

**"Max… I think you'd better see this."**

**"Mfskxzzz… huh? What is it?"**

**"Put your bathrobe on and take a look out here."**

**Max rolled over and noticed Liz standing in the doorway that led out onto their bedroom balcony. The look on her face was serious. Quickly, Max slipped on his pants and shirt, then he walked out onto the balcony with Liz. As he did, the air literally erupted in a thunder of cheers from the streets… from the fields… from the nearby hillside… in fact, from everywhere they looked. Max stood on the balcony, momentarily stunned, then he realized what was happening. The people were coming to get a look at their king. They had heard the news that he had returned and they had come to see for themselves. Max smiled, now fully awake but unsure exactly how to react. He lifted his right hand and waved at the gathering crowd, and at the same time, he put his other arm around Liz and pulled her close to him. The crowd seemed to approve, because the sound of the cheers rose from ear-splitting to deafening. Then, just when he thought it couldn't get any louder, it did. Max looked over to his left and saw that Michael and Maria had come out onto their balcony a bit further down to see what was going on.**

**Many in the crowd began to chant… "Rath! Rath! Rath!" alternating his name with chants of "Long live Zan! Long live the King!" **

**Michael smiled and stood up straight, then waved, as Maria hugged him and waved with her other hand. The crowds responded enthusiastically, cheering all the louder and longer.**

**Moments later, another third floor balcony door opened, and Isabel and Alex stepped out onto their balcony; and almost at the same moment, Kyle and Angie Lee opened their bedroom door and stepped out onto their balcony nearby. Already clearly in a celebratory mood, the crowds went wild again, not that they had every really settled down, much less stopped. **

**Isabel looked at Alex and grinned, and Alex shook his head with a smile, "Well, it looks like the welcome wagon has found us. I'm glad to see the natives are friendly."**

**Isabel wrinkled her nose puckishly but just smiled.**

**"Diane should be here, too," Alex said, "She's one of us now. Our doubles should be out here, too… and the other Kyle." Passing his hand over a sensorcom just inside his balcony door, Alex quickly notified Diane Casey and asked her to contact the others. Soon, Diane stood on the balcony with Kyle, Alex and Isabel.**

**"Are the others coming," Alex asked.**

**Diane shook her head then smiled and waved at the crowds. No one out there knew who she was… but it didn't seem to matter. They cheered all the same. They had pretty much figured out that Liz and Maria were Zan and Rath's mates, or were destined to be so very soon, and that Alex was most likely Vilandra's. And Ava, who was actually Angie Lee, had probably chosen the good-looking guy standing beside her. It would all require some explaining sooner or later, but for now, it was enough. It would provide hours on end of conversation and gossip, as people conjectured and wondered and waited impatiently to learn more about the newcomers and the obvious changes in their royal family. **

**Seeing their royal family regrouped like this, with new faces in the group, might have been a greater shock if rumors had not run rampant throughout Antar for years that the royals… or their bodies… or their DNA… had been spirited away to a very distant planet to hopefully return one day in the future. The possibilities inspired by these rumors spawned an uncountable number of theories and enough uncertainty, and hope, that the people were ready to accept almost anything… as long as it included Zan. Seeing Rath and Vilandra and Ava here, too, was more than almost anyone had ever dared to hope for. It made any changes all the less important… for now. **

**Diane glanced over at Alex… "They said to tell you that this is YOUR moment. It's you… and their king… that they want to see. Besides, the people here still don't know everything about us. Max's double thinks that seeing them, too, could be confusing to the people." **

**"Zan! Zan! Zan!" the crowds shouted over and over. Many added Rath's name alongside Zan's in their chants. Still others added "Vilandra" to the chants from time to time.**

**"Pretty impressive, huh?" Max said, turning to face Liz. Liz nodded, and her eyes became misty.**

**"What are you thinking?" Max asked.**

**Liz shook her head and smiled. "Just crazy stuff."**

**Max lifted Liz's chin gently and stared into her eyes lovingly. "If you're crazy, Liz, I'm a hopeless lunatic. Tell me. We're in this together all the way."**

**Liz smiled. "I was just thinking about Judge Lewis… after all he tried to do to us, putting me and Alex in an insane asylum… trying to sell us all out… and get us killed… I wonder what he'd think… if he could be standing here right now and see this…"**

**"We'd probably have to mop up the street where he was standing," Max retorted. **

**Liz closed her eyes and snorted, then nodded. "And those guys that shot us… Culpepper…" Liz glanced up at the rising sun.**

**"Culpepper may be watching," Max said, "but you're looking for him in the wrong direction, I'm pretty sure. Those guys are all gone now, Liz. They're just a bad dream in a distant past. We don't have to ever worry about them anymore."**

**Liz took a deep breath of the light, rose-scented Antarian morning air and let it out slowly, enjoying the adulation being heaped on them by the crowds more than she ever would have admitted.**

**"I knew I had to wake up again, Max."**

**"Huh?"**

**"The last time I woke up… after a long sleep… I was paralyzed… and you and Michael and Isabel and Maria were all dead. This morning I woke up, and I'm the queen… married to the handsome King of Hearts… loved by all… all those people out there. You and Michael and Maria and Isabel are all alive… and I can walk, run… and even dance! I feel like I could almost fly if I just tried! If this is a dream, don't ever wake me up, Max! I like this dream better."**

**Max smiled, then he nodded, as his own eyes became slightly misty…**

**"I do, too," he said simply, then he took Liz into his arms and pressed his lips to hers, kissing her passionately. The crowds outside went wild. But neither Max nor Liz heard them anymore.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The Ke'cjes' gift, and the doubles leave for home in their own dimension**


	55. Dreams54

The Night The Dreams Died 

**Stalked**

**Chapter 54**

**LIV******

**Michael was practically running, turning this way and that, looking carefully in every nook and cranny he passed, opening every door to look in every room. His brow was covered in sweat, and he was puffing more than he ever thought was possible, but he was determined not to let the stalker escape this time. Looking both ways down the long halls of the royal palace, Michael made a quick decision. To his left, he could see all the way to the end of the hall. It was vaguely possible that the stalker might have gone that way… and found a place to hide… but the hall to the right went well beyond his sight and offered so many more places to hide… places from which one might lay an ambush for an unsuspecting passer-by. And the stalker was an expert at ambush and escape, as he had already so shockingly shown. **

**It was up to Michael now. Max had been the stalker's first victim. With Max out of the way, the stalker had ambushed Kyle and Angie Lee, then Alex and Isabel, then Liz, Maria, and Diane all three in one swift coup. And Michael still had not been able to stop or catch him despite the continued bold, brazen nature of the stalker's almost reckless ambushes. This fact hurt more than anything else… almost. **

**Michael took a deep breath and steadied himself. Down the right hall… that was the way to go. Michael closed his eyes just for a second to gather his strength, then he ran to the right, holding his palm out in front of him as he ran, moving it from one side to the other as he passed any place where the ambusher might be hiding or from which he might attack. Michael was the only one left now; the ambusher would want him next. That much was crystal clear. It was Michael or the ambusher. One of them had to lose. And the one left would be… what? The winner? Even if Michael succeeded now, he wasn't sure if that term would be appropriate anymore. In a way, he had already lost. His confidence was gone… his dignity was demolished… his body ached…**

**As Michael dwelled on this, he made a mistake. He let his concentration drift from his objective… to his feelings. It wouldn't have happened if he had had a chance to gain experience… to grow into his position, as his older double had had the chance to do on the other Antar. But Michael, for all his abilities, was new to this, and now… he had made a fatal mistake.**

**With a blood-curdling shout of victory, the ambusher leapt from a small niche above an open archway, falling onto Michael's back as Michael passed under it while turning the corner. Michael spun around, attempting to dislodge the attacker, but it was too late…**

**"I gotcha, Dad! I win! You're the stalker now!"**

**Kryys jumped off of Michael's back just as the older Michael came around the corner, a huge smirking smile covering his face almost from ear to ear. He looked at his younger double, who looked like he had just been to war and lost, and shook his head… **

**"You ready for another round?" the older Michael asked, without a trace of pity.**

**The younger Michael fell slowly backward then slid down the wall into a sitting position on the marble floor.**

**"You're not tired, are you, Dad?" Kryys asked, clearly urging the younger Michael to get right back up.**

**The older Michael was really Kryys' father, of course, but Kryys wasn't making any distinction between them. He knew which one was which, but he was enjoying having two "Dads," and he called them both that indiscriminately. The older Michael had made no overt effort to correct his son, realizing that his double was just as much Kryys' father as Maria had been his own wife in the past he had gone back to earlier. He knew that THAT Maria wasn't his wife… but still, in a way, she was… to him. After all, she was Maria! So how could he tell his son that his father's double wasn't his dad when he was him? And what else would Kryys call him… if not "Dad?"**

**Still, Michael wasn't totally successful at hiding his glee at the younger Michael's present "condition…" although maybe… just maybe… he wasn't trying very hard. **

**"I'll bet you can't wait to have your own kids, huh, Rath, old buddy," the older Michael goaded, "Isn't this fun!" **

**Kryys smiled up at his father, and Michael smiled back. Michael may have been older… just a little bit… than his younger double… but he had one fantastic advantage in physical conditioning. He had three young children. He was used to this. Well, maybe he couldn't always keep up with Kryys… or with Zorel or Jayyd for that matter… but at least he had had a lot of practice trying. His younger double looked like a mass of jelly on the floor after just two games. And the older Michael absolutely loved it!**

**"Michael!" Maria admonished, walking up on them at that moment with Liz and Diane…**

**"You're being cruel! Try to be understanding." **

**Sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, the younger Michael held up his hand and shook his head…**

**"No… don't stop him. He's right. I've got a kingdom to protect now… and all of my friends here. Understanding and sympathy won't save them or me if the need ever arises to defend the kingdom. I made a mistake. I learned something."**

**Kryys smiled widely. "Can we play another game of stalker then?"**

**The older Michael held out his hand to his younger double, and the younger Michael took it. Michael pulled him up.**

**The younger Michael ran his hand over Kryys' head wearily, tousling his hair… "I learned more than one thing, Kryys… I learned to keep my mind focused on my objective… I learned to swallow my pride in battle, because it can get me killed… and I learned to fall back and regroup when the odds are hopelessly against me. Give me fifteen minutes, okay pal?"**

**Kryys nodded.**

**"How many times have you guys played this game," Maria asked with a knowing grin.**

**"Just two," the older Michael replied, "But it's not just a game. I'm preparing my double to be the protector of his kingdom… and getting him into shape before we go."**

**"It looks to me like Kryys is getting him in shape."**

**"Yeah, well, okay, he is, but I'm the one who taught Kryys to play stalker. It was our game. I made it up for him."**

**Maria smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I remember."**

**"Don't feel too bad, Michael," Max said, walking up at that moment and joining them, "He got me too. I still don't know how he got in the throne room." Max looked at Kryys suspiciously. "You didn't… you know… do that molecule… atom thing you do… did you?"**

**Kryys shook his head vigorously. "No, really, I didn't. I promised I wouldn't do anything that you or Dad couldn't do."**

**Max groaned. "That's what I was afraid of. You got me honestly! How did you get into the throne room with me guarding it?"**

**"I just followed you in. When you turned around, I hid behind the throne, and when you sat down…"**

**"Yeah, I know. You pounced."**

**Kryys smiled.**

**Max wrinkled his brow thoughtfully. "But I would have seen you behind me, Kryys. It's not that easy to just walk in my footsteps and not be seen. It would be almost impossible to move exactly when I did and always stay right where I couldn't see you… and not make any noise that I might hear either."**

**Kryys shook his head. "Just have to be fast… and alert… and very quiet."**

**"You… or me?"**

**"Me… but if you want to catch me, you, too."**

**Max nodded. "Well, maybe if I'd known you were there…"**

**"You weren't supposed to know," Kryys said innocently.**

**Max smiled. "Oh yeah. That's right. I forgot. Okay, then, next time tell me you're following me so I'll know."**

**Kryys looked confused.**

**"I'm just kidding, Kryys! I'm still can't believing you were following me and I didn't know you were there or see you or hear you or anything at all. When you jumped over the back of the throne into my lap you almost gave me a heart attack! You make a great stalker. Just don't make a profession of it or teach it to my enemies… okay?"**

**Kryys smiled and nodded his agreement.**

**Liz and Maria both laughed, and Diane nodded with a grin.**

**Maria pulled her son into her arms and held him in front of her proudly. "I'm afraid Kryys won't have time to play any more games. We've got to get ready to go see Ta'lan and Rahn in the Valley. They wanted us all to stop by for a good-bye dinner and some kind of going away gift they have for us before we leave. Our ship is still there in their valley."**

**Maria smiled. Her eyes were misty, yet at the same time joyous at the idea of returning home to ALL of her children. As happy as she had been to see Kryys when he so unexpectedly showed up in this dimension, it made her all the more keenly aware of what she was missing back home.**

**"Where's Kyle," Diane asked. "I've seen most of the others recently, but I don't think I've seen Kyle or Angie Lee since early this morning. Kyle said he and Angie Lee had a place to hide where Kryys would never find them. And by the way, Kryys, I've been meaning to ask you… how did you know they'd try to hide in the palace tutorial stockroom?" **

**Kryys smiled again. "I've seen them go in there before… and they leave the lights off."**

**"So you decided to wait inside the tutorial stockroom and ambush them when they came in… in the dark…?"**

**"Yeah."**

**Liz looked at Max and raised her eyebrows with a grin… "Eraser room."**

**Max nodded.**

**"What's an eraser room," Kryys asked.**

**Liz coughed then smiled. "You want to explain it, Max?" **

**Max seemed to hesitate momentarily. "Well, on earth, they keep… erasers there… chalk erasers… for school. That's why it's called an eraser room. Kyle probably misses his old school. The tutorial stockroom kind of reminds him of… fun times… I mean, when he used to be in school. It's… nostalgic… you know…"**

**The look on Kryys' face was a bit doubtful, but Max was finished explaining.**

**"So where's Kyle now," Diane asked again.**

**"He decided to do some work," Liz replied. "He's out in the antechambers interviewing locals who want jobs in the palace… and some who worked here before. He said something about his plans changing and needing something to occupy his mind… He also said he thought he'd be safer working than hiding as long as the palace was haunted with little goblins in the dark. Now I know what he meant. Angie Lee is helping him try to interview the applicants in Antarian… English… English-Antarian, or whatever it is they're using out there."**

**Diane laughed. "I'd love to have seen Kyle and Angie Lee's faces when they found Kryys in the tutorial stockroom with them… in the dark. Was the eraser room at your school like ours when I went to school?"**

**"I suspect so," Liz said with a nod. Then she glanced at Kryys and smiled. "They're all used to clean and store erasers."**

**"Exactly," Diane said. Max and Michael nodded their heads in agreement.**

**As Liz and Diane spoke, Kyle walked up with Angie Lee…**

**"Well! Well! The ghosties are out in broad daylight!" Kyle said, tousling Kryys' hair playfully and, at the same time, putting his other arm around Angie Lee affectionately, as his double from Antar stood beside them. Angie Lee smiled. "I've got good news," Kyle continued, turning back to Max and Michael and the others. "My double and I hired some staff. We've got an official palace chef now… and some attendants to make the beds and clean this place up… especially certain dark, haunted places… like, say, the tutorial stockroom." Kyle looked straight at Kryys, and Kryys grinned. He knew exactly what Kyle meant.**

**"You finished just in time," Maria retorted. "We've got to be in the valley in thirty minutes."**

**"Speaking of that… is everybody dressed and ready?" Liz asked.**

**"Well, I need a quick shower and a change," the younger Michael said. "Somehow, I seem to have gotten unexpectedly sweaty. I imagine Kryys needs to clean up, too."**

**"No I don't," Kryys replied.**

**"Yes you do," the older Michael said, whisking him off the floor and onto his shoulders. "Maria and I'll have Kryys ready in a jiffy, then we'll be ready to go."**

**"Good!" Liz said. "I'm looking forward to going to Ta'lan's house for dinner. I don't know about you guys, but I'm getting hungry!"**

**"Yeah! I think I'VE worked up an appetite myself," Michael agreed, with a suspiciously hungry-looking grin inching further and further over his face as he thought about it.**

**Twenty-five minutes later, the whole group was together and ready. Liz held up the sphere of the portal… **

**"Please take us to Ta'lan's house… outside her front door… in the Ke'cje valley…"**

**One by one and two by two, the entire group stepped out of the portal directly in front of Ta'lan's front door, just as Liz had asked the sphere. Kryys looked dapper with his hair combed down ever so neatly. **

**Max raised his hand and started to knock, but the door opened before he had a chance, and standing there, with a very big and totally human-looking smile, was Rahn.**

**"Come in," Ta'lan called out, beckoning to them from the dining area. "Dinner's almost ready. I've invited a few of our people to join us."**

**Max looked around. There were nine Ke'cjes in the room… eleven counting Rahn and Ta'lan… **

**"They wanted to meet you personally," Ta'lan said, placing yet another large, banana-shaped glass-like bowl of something that definitely smelled very good on the table. "And also… I needed them to 'approve' the gift that Rahn and I wanted to give you. But we'll talk about that later… in good time."**

**Max and Liz clasped the hand of each one of the nine Ke'cjes one by one in the typical manner of most Antarians, then Michael and Maria and the others did the same. They didn't have any idea if it was the way of the Ke'cje shapeshifters or not… but the Ke'cjes were, after all, Antarians, too. **

**The first Ke'cje, a male, introduced himself as "Jayak." The next, a female, introduced herself as An'dana. An'dana was followed by Yl'Ivya, Dashnen, Ly'stya, Xyrvel, Sha'malya, C'tolvyo, and Cor'ysta. All in all, there were four males and five females, but Rahn made it five and five if one did not count Ta'lan, who was the hostess.**

**Cor'ysta, perhaps the most outspoken of the group, took no time in initiating a conversation with Zan… **

**"Most Antarians believe that the Ke'cje people do not care what goes on in the king's palace… or in the rest of Antar… because we are isolated and in most ways we rule ourselves and have our own laws. But we do care. We just do not allow negative changes to affect our culture. If one is inside a glass ball bobbing on a stormy sea, even if one is sealed up and well-protected inside the glass ball, it is not the same as floating serenely on a smooth sea. On the rough sea, a headache is assured. We are well-protected here in our valley, but Kivar was a rough sea… he gave us a headache. His… successor… Nyykto was a pain… in another place. Either way, we have longed for the return of our real civilization… and our real king. Welcome home, Zan…" **

**Cor'ysta turned to face Michael… **

**"And Rath… it is good to have you back, too…" **

**Next she turned to Isabel and Angie Lee, eyeing them for a moment then smiling… "Vilandra… Ava… welcome back. We have seen that there have been some changes in the makeup of the royal house. We hope that this will lead to good things for Antar… and happiness for the royal family. Perhaps it may help to prevent any unpleasant reoccurrence of what happened before." **

**Cor'ysta was nothing if not blunt sometimes, but Michael understood. So did Isabel and Tess.**

**"It appears to us that you have chosen a loyal and capable group of friends…" Cor'ysta said, then she added, without any apparent hesitancy or trepidation, "…and new mates." She was addressing Max and Michael now, but she intended her comment for Isabel and Angie Lee, as well. "Ta'lan has explained that you were reborn through DNA transplants, so that might have been expected. And in the end, it may be for the best."**

**"Damn right!" Michael said, putting his arm around Maria.**

**Cor'ysta looked at Michael with a puzzled expression… "I… I don't think that translated right."**

**Max put his arm around Liz and grinned. "He was agreeing with you… emphatically… I do, too."**

**"Oh." Cor'ysta smiled. "Good… I mean… I'm glad you… I mean, yes, well… that's what I thought…"**

**"We understand," Isabel said sidling up to Alex, who put his arm around her and smiled as Kyle and Angie Lee did the same. "We all think we've got the best mate. And none of us want someone like Kivar to come in and take over again like he was able to do before… because of our… uh… misunderstandings."**

**"Damn right," Cor'ysta said, starting everybody to laughing.**

**"Was that not correct?"**

**Maria nodded, still laughing. "Exactly correct, Cor'ysta. You learn fast."**

**"You have strange expressions on Eluymer," Cor'ysta said, shaking her head in wonderment, but smiling nevertheless. Then she turned to Max from the other dimension… "Rahn has explained the reason there are two of some of you. Did you have similar problems in your dimension?"**

**"You mean Kivar?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Unfortunately, we did. He was still in the palace when we got to our Antar. We had to fight him… but we defeated him, just like our doubles defeated Nyykto here."**

**Cor'ysta smiled, and the look in her eyes suggested a certain admiration.**

**"Where did Kryys go?" Michael asked, suddenly realizing that his son was not standing with him and Maria anymore.**

**"The boy is talking to the strange bird in the cage… over there," Xyrvel said, indicating the caged hawk on the other side of the room with his finger.**

**Michael looked where Xyrvel had pointed. Indeed, Kryys was trying very hard to befriend the hawk. The hawk, however, was having none of it.**

**"Kryys!" Michael admonished, walking over to where he stood, "You shouldn't harass Nasedo."**

**"I'm not harassing him, Dad. I'm trying to be his friend. But he isn't very friendly. Is that his name… Nasedo?"**

**Michael nodded. "Or J'Shalo. That's his Ke'cje name."**

**"Hi, Nasedo! Nice Nasedo… J'Shalo," Kryys said cheerily, sticking his finger through the bars into the cage. "Do you want to be my friend?"**

**The hawk opened its mouth and snapped it down on Kryys' finger hard, but the finger suddenly dissolved into atoms, and Kryys pulled it back out quickly. Then the atoms swirling around the end of his hand turned back into a finger again. It was something that Michael barely paid attention to anymore, but it clearly rattled Nasedo, who wobbled momentarily and would have fallen off of his perch if his beak hadn't caught on the cage, stopping his fall, as he tumbled forward.**

**"I think Nasedo would rather mope in his cage alone," Michael said. **

**"He's a mean bird," Kryys said apologetically. "I only wanted to be his friend."**

**"I don't think he wants any friends," Michael replied. "That's why Ta'lan keeps him in his cage."**

**"Do you think she'll ever train Nasedo and teach him to be nice, Dad?"**

**Michael smiled, but it was Ta'lan who answered for him…**

**"Child, I've been trying to train J'Shalo for a very long time… too long. When he's free he always hurts people. I'm afraid the only thing to do is keep him in his cage. But who knows? Maybe one day I'll be surprised, huh…"**

**Kryys smiled.**

**"Now if everyone will gather around the table, my dinner is ready and just waiting to be eaten."**

**Kryys' eyes lit up, and he rushed to the table, forgetting about the hawk completely for the moment. Ta'lan directed everyone to their seats then began passing the food around. This would be the last meal on this Antar in this dimension for the group from the other dimension… including Kryys. For the group from this dimension, on the other hand, it would be one more beginning… the beginning of their own lives, without the help of their guardian angels.**

**Unlike Max, Michael, and Kyle from the other dimension, who had arrived on their Antar without Liz, Maria, Isabel, or any of the others of their group and with no idea what they faced, this group was together and had been at least somewhat prepared. There would be many things yet to accomplish, of course… many roads still to go down… and perhaps -even probably- many trials to bear and future burdens to overcome, but the younger group had a head start… they had friends and allies… and most importantly, they had each other. In spite of the disaster at graduation… in spite of Culpepper, Judge Lewis, the FBI's special unit, and the army… in spite of being shot, paralyzed, locked up in an insane asylum, and everything else that had happened to them, with a little help from friends in another dimension, all of them had made it to Antar alive. And because of their guardian angels from the other dimension… and an extraordinary determination and will to live… this group would not need to go back in time to change a horrible, unbearable past in order to be reunited with their soul mates or their friends. They had already been reunited. Now they could begin to live their lives… and look to a much, much brighter future together… in the place where destiny and love had led them.**

**tbc**

**Coming up: The final chapter**


	56. Dreams55

The Night The Dreams Died

**The Gift Of The Ke'cjes**

**Chapter 55**

**LV**

**Four weeks had passed since the two groups shared their final dinner together at Ta'lan's. It had been sad to say good-bye after being together for so long and sharing so many tribulations, but Liz smiled at the thought of her double and Maria, as well as Isabel, Tess, Max, Michael, and Alex, finally being able to return to their children and families again. **

**Kryys had departed at the same time as the others, leaving Kyle with them, as Kyle had intended, but Kryys had taken a different route home. His route was one that the others could not follow, but it would get him back faster… much faster… In fact, if he wished, it was even possible for him to get back at the same time he left. Time was not a factor when one had mastered its secrets.**

**As Liz thought about these things, she dipped her fingers into the cool blue river, leaving eddies in the swift current as it skimmed by beneath her. It felt good. So did the wind rushing by her face. And her mind thought back to four weeks before…**

**"You can! You just have to believe! Have faith! We would not have offered you this gift if we did not believe that you could do it."**

**"I don't think it's possible, Ta'lan. Our bodies weren't made for it. You and Rahn are… different."**

**"Not so different as you might think, Liz. We have adapted and multiplied our abilities over many, many generations, it is true… but our people began like you, one little step at a time. You have already learned to heal your own spine in order to walk again. Why didn't you let Kryys heal you when he was here? He could have, you know."**

**"I… I know he could… but I like the way I feel now… the way I am. I don't miss anything from before. I sleep very well… and when I'm awake, I'm not paralyzed… I don't even think about it anymore, I just do it… like breathing."**

**"And you can do this, too," Ta'lan said. She looked at Max, Michael, Maria, Alex, Isabel, Kyle, and Angie Lee. They were all looking at Liz. They had even greater doubts than Liz, but they knew that if anyone was going to do this, it would be Liz.**

**"Hold your arms out and feel the breeze under them," Ta'lan said, gently lifting Liz's arms out to her sides. Liz looked down at the valley below. It was beautiful from high up on the mountain ledges. Liz closed her eyes. She could feel the breeze caressing her arms. She opened her eyes again.**

**"What did you feel?"**

**"The breeze. It felt good… kind of… uplifting…"**

**Ta'lan nodded. Uplifting… that is a good word. If you let it, it will lift you up."**

**"I can't grow wings, Ta'lan. Even you said that we would never be able to change our body size like you… like your people do. We haven't evolved or whatever that way. Where would the extra mass come from to form my wings?" **

**Liz was thinking like a scientist. She knew that mass had to come from somewhere. If she couldn't change her body size, how could she grow wings? It was illogical. But Ta'lan just smiled.**

**"Jump, Liz."**

**"Jump? What… straight up?"**

**"Straight up."**

**Liz jumped. Her feet went up about two feet then fell back to the ground. It was a normal jump, nothing more nor less.**

**"Now hold out your arms and concentrate. Imagine that you have wings growing from your back just above your arms. Feel the wings. Feel the breeze under them. Feel it, Liz."**

**Liz tried.**

**"Can you feel it?"**

**"I can imagine it. I can… almost feel it. But I can't grow wings, Ta'lan."**

**Ta'lan took Liz's hand in hers and placed it on her back at the shoulder blades. Liz felt something. Definitely there was something. It was no more than a few inches long, but it could be a wing…**

**"Omigod…"**

**"I told you. Thanks to Rahn… and thanks, ironically, to J'Shalo's treachery… you were prepared for this. You can do it. Now jump, Liz."**

**"Again?"**

**Ta'lan nodded.**

**Liz jumped. To her surprise, she easily jumped over four feet high this time, though she used no greater effort than before.**

**"How did that happen," Liz asked, shocked.**

**"There's your mass, Liz. Your body is no smaller than it was before, but mass has been moved from muscles, from bones, from fat tissues… and used to form these little wings. Inch for inch, you are lighter than before."**

**"But… how? How can mass be transferred from one site in my body to another just like that?"**

**"What happens when you get a cut or a wound, Liz? The blood brings a veritable repair kit of elements to the site from elsewhere in the body. Your heart pumps blood, your pituitary gland releases chemicals that flow through your body. Your liver and other organs move fluids through your body, removing some elements, replacing others. Our bodies are not solid like stone, Liz. They are fluid… they are alive. Even yours."**

**Liz thought about what Ta'lan had said, and she reached back and felt the tiny wing on her back again. Hesitantly, she held her arms out and closed her eyes once more, allowing the wind to blow under them, imagining the feeling of being lifted up, like a bird, by the gentle breeze. She could actually feel it now. She felt so light… almost like she could… **

**Liz lifted her feet. For several seconds, she remained in the air, the gentle winds flowing beneath two wings that seemed to grow and grow until they were almost as long as Ta'lan's own wings… or Rahn's. Then she put her feet down and opened her eyes again. The first thing she noticed was Max, Michael, Maria, and the others with their mouths hanging open in shocked disbelief. But Ta'lan and Rahn were smiling. It was an "I-told-you-so" smile.**

**That was four weeks ago… and Liz still remembered every word. **

**Liz took a deep, refreshing breath of the clean, fresh air, as she skimmed along over the surface of the Ke'cje River, feeling the mist in her face and making eddies in the water with her fingers as she dipped them into the current just below her. After several minutes of this, she brought her wings down forcefully, propelling her feather-light body upward… then upward… then higher still… into the high east winds above the valley. Liz leveled out and spread her wings wide, allowing the east winds to support her.**

**"I knew you could do it."**

**Liz looked to her left and saw Ta'lan and Rahn with several other Ke'cjes. Near Ta'lan and Rahn, Maria and Michael drifted on the breeze. Maria waved giddily. Michael had Maria by the hand, and each had one wing over the other. Further away in the distance, Liz saw Alex and Isabel sailing higher and higher into the high east winds. Her friends were all here… together… just like then… **

**_- Liz looked at Max and smiled, and he winked back. She remembered thinking that Max looked rather erudite in his royal red graduation gown and hat. They had no warning then… no idea that anything would go so very wrong… until the guest speaker, Bryce McCain, walked out onto the stage to speak…_**

**_Suddenly, Liz felt a sick feeling in her stomach… a premonition… but she knew that it had come too late. She looked back at Max, her eyes wide with fear… more for him than for herself. Before she could speak, a deep, excruciating pain in her stomach doubled her over, and she struggled on her feet, as something went through her and struck her backbone… She heard several loud explosive sounds… rifle shots… then something hit her in the head… hard… like a sledgehammer. Liz felt her life draining away as she lay on her back on the floor. The room spun and disappeared in a fog, then all was gone._**

**_She awakened in her room, but… it wasn't her room… not like she remembered it. It had been painted white, and her tongue felt like sandpaper. She was thirsty and had tubes in her everywhere. A woman she did not recognize ran calling for "Mister Parker." -_**

**A gust from the high east wind blew in her face, reminding Liz where she was, and she shook her head, dispelling the bad memories. It was a beautiful day over the Ke'cje valley. Rolling over to her left, she dove downward toward the forested mountains below. It was easy to do, and coming out of a dive was no problem at all with such a light body. As the tall green trees on the mountaintop appeared in front of her, Liz calculated a trajectory through them. It was fun to glide through the forest on her newfound wings. It was peaceful allowing the trees on both sides to sweep by her in their deep green majestic splendor. Liz had always liked trees… and walking in the park…**

**_- "Still feel like doing this, sweetheart?"_**

**_"Wild horses couldn't stop me, Vera. I just want to be out here in the fresh air among the beautiful trees and flowers for a while. I want to feel human again. You can understand, can't you?"_**

**_Vera nodded. Then she took the handles of the wheelchair and walked toward the nature trail. Liz was smiling broadly… and taking in all the scenery._**

**_"God, it's so beautiful, Vera! I think I'd almost forgotten what it felt like to be outdoors in the real world. Thank you so much for bringing me!"_**

**_"It's my job, honey. Besides, just between you and me, I like walking in the park." Vera smiled._**

**_"You think anyone would mind if I pulled one of these little flowers off this bush, Vera?"_**

**_"I think there'll be plenty left, Liz. Go ahead."_**

**_Liz carefully plucked a flower from beside the trail with her fingers. As she did, her arm moved slightly._**

**_"Did you see that, Vera? My arm moved!"_**

**_"I saw it." _**

**_"It was just a little, but I actually moved it, Vera! Maybe I'll be able to walk again some day, too."_**

**_"I wouldn't doubt it, Liz. But don't get yourself too anxious and then get depressed if it doesn't happen."_**

**_"It will, Vera. I know it will. I just have to be positive about it." -_**

**Liz saw sunlight ahead as she neared the edge of the forest. She emerged from the trees and rolled over toward the valley below, allowing herself to glide down the mountain, following the contours of the terrain below her. She crossed the river then turned back and crossed it again. Somehow she never tired of feeling the cool mist in her face as the swift waters flowed by mere inches beneath her. A short distance down the river, Liz turned in to the shore again. She was at the foot of the mountain now, near the source of the river. It was a quiet place. Everywhere she looked, large stones stuck out of the ground like venerable monuments of nature's serene beauty…**

**_- Vera helped Liz out of her wheelchair, and she sat down on the ground in front of the granite memorial marker. Then she reached out and touched it, running her hand over the engraved words…_**

**Maxwell Evans**

**1984 – 2002**

**_Tears filled her eyes, and she wiped them away, but it was like trying to drain the sea with a straw. The tears rolled down her face faster than she could keep them away. She stopped even trying._**

**_"It wasn't supposed to be like this, Max. We were supposed to live happily ever after. You never should have healed me. Look what it got you!" Liz began to sob, and Vera helped her wipe some of the tears away with a handkerchief._**

**_"If you hadn't healed me, you would still be alive, Max. Nobody would have ever known about you. Who's going to save your people now? I betrayed them all by loving you. Because of me, Kivar wins. All I ever did was love you! Why did you have to die?" _**

**_Vera sat down on the ground beside Liz to comfort her. "I know it doesn't seem possible now, Liz, but time heals wounds._**

**_"Some wounds never heal, Vera. The bullet that went through my head and the bullet that crushed my spine made wounds that will heal… at least outside… but…" Liz motioned toward Max's grave. "This wound will never heal for me."_**

**_"I know. But life will go on, Liz. And you will go on." -_**

**Liz wiped her eyes and flew back up into the sunlight. Bringing her large white wings down with powerful strokes, she climbed quickly past several wispy little clouds. She could see others here and there… and in the distance, she could see Alex and Isabel. They were still the highest ones in the sky…**

**"Alex… Sweet, sweet Alex…" Liz thought with a smile. "What would I have done without him when Judge Lewis had me thrown in that insane asylum? If Alex hadn't been there, too, to keep me grounded, I don't know what would have happened…**

**_- "Alex!" Liz cried plaintively, her voice breaking and her emotion obvious as the door to her room in the Crestview Mental Health facility was closed, separating her from her only comfort. She was alone._**

**_"Don't worry, Liz… I'll be here…" Alex's voice trailed off, as Liz's door was closed, locking her in her room. Liz sat in her chair for several minutes, asking herself if this was the way it was all going to end for her… locked in an insane asylum… perhaps murdered… after everything they had been through… and bringing Alex down with her. No, she couldn't let that happen. Not to Alex. He didn't deserve this. Liz moved herself from her wheelchair onto the edge of the small, white bed and looked around at the room. It was stark, no windows, devoid of any color, devoid of any joy, miserable… just like her. She put her face in her hands and began to cry, but after a moment, she raised her head again, steeled her resolve, and dried the tears. -_****-**

**Liz smiled as she remembered what had happened nine days later…**

**_- "It's dinner time, Miss Parker."_**

**_"I'm not really hungry. I don't think I could eat."_**

**_"That's a negative attitude, Miss Parker. If you want to ever get out of here, you have to eat your food."_**

**_"Leave it. I'll see if I want any of it later."_**

**_"I'll be back in about an hour, Miss Parker. Just leave the plate and cup on the cart… You can roll that wheelchair over here by yourself, right?"_**

**_Liz didn't answer. The orderly closed the door behind him and locked it. For several minutes, Liz stared blankly at the wall, her mind miles away from her suffocating present existence. But after several minutes, she decided to at least look at the food. Wheeling her chair over to the cart, she removed the lid from the plate. There were two slivers of white cheese, something that appeared to be scrambled eggs, with the yellow removed, a cup of milk, something bleached white that looked vaguely like artificial crab meat… but that was only a guess. Liz sighed and replaced the lid without taking anything._**

**_"Pretty disgusting isn't it?"_**

**_Liz raised her head and looked around. There was no one there._**

**_"They've done it," she said to herself quietly. "They've made me start hearing voices… in only nine days."_**

**_"I could go for a cheeseburger myself," the voice said._**

**_This time, Liz lifted the cover from the side of the cart. Nestled comfortably on the support bars beneath the cart was Alex._**

**_"Omigod, Alex! What… How…? Alex? Tell me you're real!"_**

**_Alex painstakingly extracted himself from the support frame beneath the cart and stretched his legs out._**

**_"I'm real, Liz." _**

**_Alex bent down to kiss Liz on the cheek, and Liz threw her arms around his neck so tight that he was afraid he would be pulled down on top of her in her wheelchair._**

**_"I'm happy to see you, too, Liz, but you better let me go. I don't want to fall on you."_**

**_"The least of my worries," Liz said, letting Alex go._**

**_"Yeah! The food around here is definitely problema numero uno," Alex said with a grin. Liz smiled._**

**_"Well, it's all we've got, Alex. Like it or not, it'll have to keep us alive."_**

**_"Maybe not," Alex said, reaching back under the cart and pulling out a couple of hamburgers, some yellow cheese, a couple of soft drinks, and a candy bar._**

**_"They eat real food in the kitchen," Alex said with a wink and a twinkle in his eye. "They just don't give it to us crazy people." _**

**_Liz looked at him then at the cheeseburgers. "How did you get those?"_**

**_"The same way I got out of my room. I hid under the cart. When it got to the kitchen, I slipped out and looked for some real food then climbed back under the cart. I was hoping they'd get to your room eventually."_**

**_"But… didn't they notice you weren't in your room? How did you…?"_**

**_Alex grinned and took two round lids from the lower service tray beneath the crossbars of the cart and placed them on the bed. Then he arranged the cover over them and placed the pillow so that, all in all, it did appear that someone was asleep in the bed under the cover._**

**_Liz shook her head. "I don't know how you got away with it, Alex, but…"_**

**_Alex handed Liz one of the cheeseburgers he had made and a cold canned soda. She smiled and took a bite then took a sip of her drink. Then she closed her eyes for a moment._**

**_"You're an angel, Alex! This is just what I needed. YOU'RE just what I needed! Omigod! You're the best! I just love you! You couldn't know."_**

**_"Well, you could be a little more sure about it, Liz," Alex said with a grin._**

**_Liz smiled. "Alex, bend over." Liz put one arm around his neck and kissed him lightly on the lips._**

**_"Whoa! Wow!" Alex gasped, as Liz let him go. "If Max really is still alive, Liz, he's going to kill me now."_**

**_"Don't worry, Alex. Max would understand. He'd probably kiss you himself for me."_**

**_"He better not!"_**

**_Liz laughed. "Alex, Max will always be my one great love… but you deserved a kiss for this. I can't believe you did all of this… and got away with it!" -_**

**Liz smiled as the memories came back to her. Alex had always been a good and faithful friend. She couldn't even begin to imagine him not being there. Seeing Alex flying high in the sky with Isabel now just seemed oddly… well… right somehow. **

**They had all agreed that they would never use their shapeshifting abilities outside of the Ke'cje valley unless it was absolutely necessary… or an emergency. Max and Liz and the others knew all too well what it was like to be different. And even though Antarians had a myriad number of different powers, and most of them had at least one, shapeshifting was not one of the usual ones. Max didn't wish to appear different, and flying around over CoruzAntar would have been… well… different. They would come to the Ke'cjes' valley to fly in the high east winds whenever they felt the need to clear their heads. But they would never make their ability common knowledge to the public. They all felt that it was the right decision.**

**But Liz did have to smile as she watched Alex and Isabel soar higher and higher into the sky. It almost seemed as though they were… reaching for the stars…**

**_- The stars in the night had been plentiful above the Mesaliko Reservation, as Liz sat alone in her wheelchair by the river, looking up into the starlit sky… It almost seemed as if…_**

**_Liz reached one hand up… toward a particularly bright star, and as she did, a hand took hers and closed it around the star._**

**_Even in the starlight, Liz recognized Max's hand… its feel… the tingle it gave her. She spun around in her chair, almost overturning it, and Max scooped her up into his arms. _**

**_"Max! Omigod, Max!" Liz cried over and over, wrapping her own arms tightly around him and smothering him with kisses. "I've missed you so much! I knew you were alive! I just knew it! But I thought I might never see you again."_**

**_Max hugged Liz to himself and kissed her face, her hair, her neck, her hands… as tears of joy ran down his cheeks, too._**

**_"I knew you were alive, too, Liz," he said breathlessly. "I felt you. I always have! They told me you were dead… and for a while, I thought maybe I was feeling you, because… because I couldn't let you go. But deep inside, I knew it was you I was feeling, not just a memory. I came down here to the river to try to relax… and feel closer to you. It's been kind of a… a rough day."_**

**_Liz pressed her lips to Max's and kissed him with all the passion that had been pent up inside her for so long. After several minutes, she pulled back and smiled, running her hands lovingly over his face. "Did that help any, Max?"_**

**_"Lots! …Can you walk, Liz?"_**

**_"No." Liz shook her head. "I haven't been able to move my legs since… graduation night."_**

**_Max picked Liz up in his arms. "I'll send Rahn back for the chair later. He can slip out of Gray Hawk's house without being noticed."_**

**_Liz put her arms around Max's neck, and her body relaxed in his arms. She looked at his face… God! How much she had missed it! And she looked at the stars. They were bright tonight… very, very bright… and oh so beautiful. -_**

**Liz smiled as she remembered how Max had carried her back to Gray Hawk's house, where he and the others had been hiding with Angie Lee's help since escaping from the base, while Jim Valenti had hidden her and Alex only a few doors down in River Dog's house. And neither had been aware that the other was right there on the reservation. **

**With these thoughts in her mind, Liz brought her wings down forcefully, climbing higher and higher into the sky. As she flew over a small cloud, she rolled over on her back and imagined that she was lying on top of it, nestled in its cottony wisps. Cradled there, she spread her wings out as far as they would go, basking in the sun's warmth while she warmed herself in the memory of Max's arms holding her that night. The warm sun felt good on her face, and some memories felt good in her soul… That one did. Liz couldn't exactly fly upside down the way she was right now, but her body was so light, and her wings provided so much lift, even upside down, that she could have stayed like this for quite some time… perhaps an hour… before she would have reached the ground. But it wasn't the ground that pulled Liz out of her thoughts. It was Maria.**

**As Liz lay on her back, basking in the sun's rays, a hand took hers and spun her around. Liz folded her wings and rolled over then spread them again, settling into a glide, as she looked around to see who had interrupted her cloud-top sunbath. **

**Maria drifted over toward Liz again and settled into a glide beside her…**

**"Having fun yet, Liz?"**

**Liz smiled… "Is the Golden Sea salty, Maria?"**

**"Well, I don't know… Michael told me that before we came here he and Max convinced Alex that the Golden Sea was golden because it was made out of lite beer."**

**Liz giggled. "Actually, it was Isabel who said that… as a joke. I was there. But Alex didn't buy it. He was just pretending… kidding around… you know, playing along with the joke."**

**"I know. Alex is cool."**

**Liz nodded.**

**"Take my hands, Liz."**

**"Huh?"**

**"Take my hands! I've got something to show you."**

**Liz took Maria's right hand, then both of them slowly glided around to where they were facing each other. Then Maria took Liz's right hand in her other hand. Face to face like this, neither one could fly forward. What happened next was that they slowly began to spin around and around like a helix… or the blades of a helicopter. Maria laughed, then Liz began to laugh, too.**

**"This is fun, Maria! How did you learn to do this?"**

**"By accident. Michael tried to hold both of my hands at once, and we started spinning. After a few moments, I realized I was having fun. Pretty cool, huh?"**

**"Yeah! Pretty cool," Liz agreed, releasing one of Maria's hands then the other and returning to a slow, leisurely glide alongside her best friend. "Did you ever think you'd be doing this, Maria… flying, I mean?"**

**Maria shook her head. "I never thought I'd be going to Czechoslovakia with the Czechoslovakians. Sometimes I still wake up and think, 'Was I crazy or something?' Then I see Michael, and I say, 'Oh, yeah.'"**

**Liz laughed. "I know what you mean. If you think about it, it seems so weird it's almost scary. But I wouldn't change it for all the money in Fort Knox… or on Antar."**

**"I know I wouldn't," Maria said with a thoroughly positive air. "I like being a Czechoslovakian… even if I did sneak in across the border… in a manner of speaking."**

**Liz laughed again. "Don't worry, Maria. I think Max got us all green cards. Anyway, we're Antarians now… bonafide… the real deal. We're married to Antarians, so we are Antarians."**

**"Except that real Antarians have powers…" Maria said.**

**"Well, we can fly and change our shape," Liz replied. "Not like Rahn or Ta'lan, maybe, but we can change. I'd say we've got a power."**

**Maria smiled then nodded… "Yeah… Yeah! I guess I am a real Czechoslovakian. Thanks, Liz!"**

**"You're welcome, Maria. And any time you need to be reminded, just let me know."**

**Maria looked at Liz. "You're a good friend, Liz! The best!"**

**"So are you, Maria. I'm glad you're here. I'm really glad."**

**Maria looked at Liz again… "But if Max had asked you to go with him and I had said I was staying on earth… you'd have gone with him… right?"**

**Liz smiled. "In a heartbeat… but I would have missed you."**

**Maria laughed and nodded. "I would have missed you, too."**

**Maria looked to her left and saw Michael flying at her side now. He took her by the other hand and grinned playfully.**

**"Gotta go, Liz," Maria said. "The sky is gorgeous today. Gotta take advantage of every moment."**

**Liz nodded and waved good-bye as Maria glided away with Michael. Liz wasn't quite sure if Maria had said, "the sky" or "this guy," but she guessed it didn't really matter. Maria would have said that both were equally true. **

**Liz smiled and shook her head as she thought about spinning around and around and around high up in the sky. It had been dizzying… but fun…**

**_- Liz reached out her hand, and Max took it. Then she spun toward him and into his arms with a movement as graceful as any Max had ever seen. Max found himself moving to the music with her… and watching Liz dance like she had never danced before._**

**_As the beat of the music throbbed in their bodies and the haunting strains of the tune infused the very air around them with life, Liz swirled and spun… she leapt and swayed… she pirouetted and dipped. Max moved to the beat with her, holding out his hand again. Liz took it, and Max pulled her to him, lifting her gently yet easily into the air on strong arms. Like a graceful swan soaring for the very first time from a previously earthbound existence into the glorious infinite blue sky above, Liz rose lightly into the air. She held out her arms, balancing on Max's gentle hands, losing herself in the moment. It was freeing. It was cathartic. It was wonderful._**

**_Gently… in total harmony with the music… Max lowered Liz back to the ground, as he turned gracefully… more gracefully than he had realized he was capable of… on his feet. Liz touched the floor lightly, like a feather floating down, then her feet gracefully propelled her back into the air in a spin, followed by another pirouette on her toes._**

**_Applause filled the air from every side of the room. In the emotions of the moment, Liz had not even realized that she and Max had literally cleared the dance floor. They had become the main attraction, the single attraction, and everyone… absolutely everyone… was loving it._**

**_As they swayed together to the music, cheek to cheek, secretly, irresistibly, Liz unbuttoned Max's shirt. Then he swirled away from her and she from him, both of them releasing each other's hand simultaneously. Liz turned around once on her toes then stood, swaying to the beat, holding Max's shirt in her hand, an immutable grin on her face._**

**_Moving away, Max turned around twice rapidly then took a short running leap, rotating in the air and landing on his hands in a back flip. Liz watched, smiling deliriously, then took one final spin of her own, holding Max's shirt over her head, allowing it to wave high in the air like a victory pennant. -_**

**As memories of the dance in Gray Hawk's new house on the Mesaliko Reservation came back to her, Liz smiled. They had been through a lot together… all of them had. They had been shot, pursued, and persecuted. But there had been good times, too… like Alex unexpectedly popping out from under a cart with a cheeseburger, Max carrying her in his arms to Gray Hawk's house… and the dance. Adversity intensifies joy. She guessed that was why people who had been near death said that it taught them to appreciate life. **

**Liz sighed. The only thing she was missing right now was Max. She rolled over and looked around in the sky. Max had had some very important things to take care of at the palace, but he had said that he would join them if he got through in time. Liz understood that what he had to do was more important than this. He was forging a new government… a new life… for them and for all Antarians. That was what a king had to do. It took precedence over everything else. But it would have been nice to have Max here with her… especially right now. Liz sighed and looked around again, almost expecting to see Max's face smiling at her, but he wasn't there. Alex and Isabel could still be seen, though just barely, high up in the sky. Maria and Michael were gliding back and forth through the wispy clouds together, hand in hand. Kyle and Angie Lee were hanging out at a lower altitude, still a bit unsure about going very high. But they were clearly enjoying themselves immensely. Liz sighed. She understood. She was married to a king. He would have things to do that would take him away from her. It was inescapable… and necessary.**

**Liz looked around one last time then decided she would skim along over the river again to feel the cool mist on her face. It would take her mind off of… other things… but as she rolled over to dive, a hand reached out and touched her from the other side. Liz turned her head… Max! **

**He looked like an angel with his long, powerful, white wings holding him there so effortlessly in the sky, high above the Ke'cjes' valley. Liz reached out to him with her hands, and Max took them in his, pulling her to him. Then he wrapped her in his arms. Liz wrapped her arms and her wings around Max, and he carried her effortlessly along on the winds with his own powerful wings. Max smiled and looked deeply into Liz's eyes then kissed her. As he did, he took her higher and higher, high into the high east winds, where the wind beneath his wings would carry them along… and where he could devote his total attention to the angel in his arms. **

**(¯'·.¸(¯'·.¸ ¸.·'´¯)¸.·'´¯)**

**(¯'·.¸(¯'·.¸ '´¯) ,. ' )**

**- The End -**

**(¸.·'´(¸.·'´ '·.¸)'·.¸)**

**(¸.·'´(¸.·'´ ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯ '·.¸)'·.¸) **


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